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HANDBOOK 



ADMINISTRATIONS 



UNITED STATES; 



COMPRISIN-G A SYNOrSIS OF THE LEADING POLITICAL 

EVENTS IN AMERICAN HISTORY, FROM THE 

INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON TO 

THE PRESENT PERIOD. 



EECORD or CONTEMPOEANEOUS ENGLISH HISTORY. 



By EDWARD OyriLESTON. 



. BOSTON: 
LEE & SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS. 

NEW YORK: 
LEE, SHEPARD, AND DILLINGHAM. 

1871. . 



Eld3 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, 

Bv EDWARD G. TILESTON, LL.B., 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress-, at Washington. 



BoxtoH : 
Stereotyped and Printed b;i Rand, Avery, & Fnje. 



PREFACE. 



A FEW months ago, passing through the 
library of the Boston Athenaeum, we picked 
up a " Handbook of the Administrations of 
Great Britain," written by. Francis Culling 
Carr, Esq. ; published by Smith, Elder, & Co., 
London. The thought at once occurred to us, 
that a Handbook of the Administrations of 
the United States would also .be a valuable 
manual. This little volume is the result. 
Nothing elaborate is intended. It is simply 
a collection of familiar facts carefully grouped 
together in moments of leisure from business 
engagements, — facts so classified and • ar- 
ranged as to be easily remembered, and readily 
referred to. Notwithstanding the limits of 
the work, we have given extended extracts 



.d 



4 Preface. 

from the inaugural and other addresses of the 
early Presidents ; also leading incidents in 
contemporaneous English and French history, 
and official financial statements of the General 
Government. Although the Vice-President 
of the United States is not a member of 
the cabinet, and the Postmaster-General was 
not admitted until Jackson's time, we have 
thought best to give the names of these 
officers with those who actually belong to 
that body. We are indebted to the courtesy 
of the Superintendent of the Department of 
the Interior, Washington, for the facts in the 
Appendix, " Census 1'870," which have been 
kindly furnished in advance of the official 
publication. As it is not impossible that a 
new edition of this Handbook may be issued 
at the close of each administration, sugges- 
tions are respectfully requested for its im- 
provement, and may be addressed to the 
Editor. 

Boston, March 4, 1871. 



WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 

1789 TO 1797. 



THE CABINET. 



PRESIDENT: 

GEORGE WASHINGTON, Virginia, 

VICE-PRESIDENT : 

JOHN ADAMS, Massachusetts.' 

SECRETARIES OF STATE: 

1789. — Thomas Jefferson, Virginia. 
1794. — Edmund Randolph, Virginia. 
I795'.— I'lMOTHY Pickering, Massachusetts. 

SECRETARIES OF THE TREASURY: 

1789. — Alexander Hamilton, New York. 

1795. — Oliver Wolcott, Connecticut. 

SECRETARIES OF WAR AND NAVY: 

1789. — Henry Knox, Massachusetts. 

1794. — Timothy Pickering, Massachusetts. 

1796. — James McHenry, Maryland. 

POSTMASTERS-GENERAL: 

1789. — Samuel Osgood, Massachusetts. 
1794. — Timothy Pickering, Massachusetts. 
1795. — Joseph Habersham, Georgia. 

ATTORNEYS-GENERAL: 

17S9. — Edmund Randolph, Virginia. 
1794. — William Bradford, Pennsylvania. 
1795- — Charles "Lee, Virginia. 



CONTEMPORANEOUS ENGLISH HISTORY. 

George III., King of England. 
Mr. Pitt, Prime-Minister. 
Revolution in France, and 
War between France and England ; 
Napoleon First Consul. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON, 



From— March 4, 1789, to 1797. 

Duration. — Two terms, — eight years. 

Party. — Federalists. 

Principal Events. — Organization of the Federal Government. 
National Thanksgiving established. United States Bank organ- 
ized. Federal loan negotiated in Europe, Land secured for 
seat of government. Death of Franklin at 84. North Carolina, 
Vermont, Tennessee, and Kentucky admitted. Indian hostil- 
ities. Whiskey Insurrection. Subsequent prosperity. Farewell 
Address, 

President of Senate. — John Adams. 

Chaplain of Senate, 1789. — Rt. Rev. Bishop Provost (Episcopal). 

Speakers of the House.— First Congress, F. A. Muhlenberg, 
Pennsylvania. 
Second Congress, Jonathan Trumbull, Connecticut. 
Third Congress, F. A. Muhlenberg, Pennsylvania. 
Fourth Congress, Jonathan Dayton, New Jersey. 

CHAPiiAiN OF House, 1789. — Rev. William Lynn (Presbyterian). 

Chancellor of New York. — Robert R. Livingston. 

1789. — The tirst marked event in the admin- 
"istration of Washington was his reception by Con- 
gress, convened in New York. 



8 Washington s Administration. 

His journey from Mount Vernon had been like 
a triumphal procession, the way often strewed 
with flowers. 

Addresses, both public and private, were aglow 
with gratitude to the Father of his Country, but, 
above all, to Almighty God, who had raised him 
up to be a nation's deliverer. 

It was just prior to this reception that John 
Adams said of him, " Were I blessed with powers 
to do justice to his character, it would be impossi- 
ble to increase the confidence or affection of his 
country, or make the smallest addition to his glory. 
If we look over the catalogue of the first magis- 
trates of nations, whether they have been denomi- 
nated presidents or consuls, kings or princes, where 
shall we find one whose coinmanding talents and 
virtues, whose overruling good fortune, have so 
completely united all hearts and voices in his 
favor, who enjoyed the esteem and admiration 
of foreign nations and fellow-citizens with equal 
unanimity ? Qualities so uncommon are no com- 
mon blessings to the country that possesses them. 
By these great qualities and their benign effects has. 
Providence marked out the head of this nation with 



Washington s Adfuinistration. g 

a hand so- distinctly visible as to have been seen by 
all men, and mistaken by none." And Washington 
in his Inaugural Address remarked, " It would be 
peculiarly improper to omit in this my first official 
act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Be- 
ing who rules over the universe, who presides in 
the councils of nations, and whose providential aid 
can supply every human defect that his benedic- 
tion may consecrate to the liberties and happiness 
of the people of the United States." And again : 
"No people can be bound to acknowledge and 
adore the invisible Hand which conducts the aifairs. 
of men more than the people of the United States. 
The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be ex- 
pected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules 
of order and right, which Heaven itself has or- 
dained. The preservation of the sacred fire of lib- 
erty, and the creating of the Republican model of 
government, are justly considered as deeply, per- 
haps as finally, staked on the experiment intrusted 
to the hands of the American people." To which 
the Senate, among other excellent things, replied, 
"We rejoice, and with us all America, that, in 
obedience to the call of our common country, you 



lO Washinorion s Administration. 



'C> 



have returned once more to public life. In you 
all parties confide ; in you all interests unite. A 
review of the many signal instances of divine in- 
terposition in favor of this country claians our 
most pious gratitude ; and permit us, sir, to ob- 
serve, that, among the great events which have led 
to the formation and establishment of a Federal 
Government, we esteem your acceptance of the 
office of President as one of the most propitious 
and important." The answer of the House was in 
part as follows : " We feel, with you, the strong- 
est obligations to adore the invisible Hand which 
has led the American people through so many diffi- 
culties; to cherish a conscious responsibility for 
the destiny of Republican liberty ; and to seek the 
only sure means of preserving and -recommending 
the precious deposit in a system of legislation 
founded on the principles of an honest policy, and 
directed by the spirit of a diffusive patriotism. 
Your resolution, in a moment critical to the liberties 
of your countrj'-, to renounce all personal emolu- 
ment, was among the many presages of your patri- 
otic services which have been amply fulfilled ; and 
your scrupulous adherence now to the law then 



Washi7igtons Administratioii. n 

imposed on yourself cannot fail to demonstrate the 
purity, whilst it increases the lustre, of a character 
which has so many titles to admiration. Such are 
the sentiments which we have thought fit to address 
you. They flow from our hearts; and we verily 
believe, that, among the millions we represeAt, 
there is not a virtuous citizen whose heart will dis- 
own them." A part of the reply of the beloved 
Washington was this: "I now feel myself inex- 
pressibly happy in a belief that Heaven, which has 
' done so much for an infant nation, will not withdraw 
its providential influence before our political felicity 
shall have been completed'. Thus supported by a 
firm trust in the great Arbiter of the universe, 
aided by the collective wisdom of the Union, and 
■ imploring the divine benediction on our joint ex- 
ertions in the service of our country, I readily en- 
gage with you in the arduous but pleasing task of 
attempting to make a nation happy." " 

Previously to the adjournment of the first ses- 
sion of Congress, the two houses appointed a joint 
committee to wait on the President to " request that 
be would recommend to the people of the United 
States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to 



12 Washington s Administration. 

be observed by acknawleclging with grateful hearts 
the many and signal favors of Almighty God ; es- 
pecially by affording them an opportunity peace- 
ably to establish a constitution of government for 
their safety and happiness." 

1790. — The second session of the first Con- 
gress assembled in Kew York on Monday, the 4th 
of January. Washington congratulates the coun- 
try upon the " recent accession of the important 
State of Korth Carolina ; " advises with regard to 
certain hostile tribes of Indians, post-offices, and 
post-roads; uniformity in the currency'', weights, 
and measures ; the advancement of agriculture, 
commerce, and manufactures; the promotion of 
science and literature, and an adequate provision for 
the support of the public credit; the department 
of foreign affairs ; and a uniform rule of natural- 
ization, by which foreigners may be admitted to 
the rights of citizens. 

1791. — The third session of the first Con- 
gress was assembled at the county court house in 
the city of Philadelphia. At this session, the 
whole of the thirteen States were represented. 
Washington alludes to the rise of American 



Washington s Adntinistratio7t. 13 

securities abroad, as well as at home ; recom- 
mends the appointment of foreign consuls ; speaks 
of the disturbed situation of Europe, and ad- 
vises the establishment of the militia for the 
protection of the frontiers ; Vermont is admitted 
to the Union; "public debt to be reduced as fast 
as the increase of the public resources will per- 
mit;" a loan of three millions of florins is nego- 
tiated in Holland. 

1791-92. — Second Congress, first session. 
Philadelphia, 24th October, 1791. Eapid subscrip- 
tions to the Bank of the United States ; overtures 
of peace accepted by certain Indian tribes ; a dis- 
trict of ten miles square for the permanent seat of 
government of the United States is fixed, and an- 
nounced by proclamation, which district compre- 
hends land on both sides of the E-iver Potomac, and 
the towns of Alexandria and Georgetown ; pop- 
ulation of United States, four millions ; a further 
loan of two millions and a half of florins completed 
in Holland ; six millions more expected ; arsenals, 
fortifications, and a mint, to be established ; United 
States lands pledged as a fund for reimbursing tl# 
public debt ; Kentucky admitted into the Union. 



14 Washington's Administration, 

1793-93. — Second Congress, second ses- 
sion. Philadelphia, 5th November, 1792. 

Financial prosperity continues. Three new- 
loans effected, each for three millions of florins, 
at Antwerp and Amsterdam, at four per cent. 
Efforts to establish peace with hostile Indians 
unavailing. 

Washington opens his address .to Congress 
thus : — • • 

" I entertain a strong hope that the state of the 
national finances is now sufficiently matured to en- 
able jow to enter upon a systematic and effectual 
arrangement for the regular redemption and dis- 
charge of the public debt. No measure can be 
more desirable, whether viewed with an eye to its 
intrinsic importance, or to the general sentiment 
and wish of the nation." 

Soon after entering upon his second term. Wash-- 
ington saySj "I have obeyed the suffrage w^hich 
commanded me to resume the executive power; 
and I humbly implore that Being, on- whose will 
the fate of nations depends, to crown with success 
(^ mutual endeavors for the general happiness." 

1794. — " The mint of the United States has' 



Washington s Administration. 15 

entered upon the coinage of tlie precious metals. 
My policy in our foreign transactions has been, 
to cultivate peace with all the world ; to observe 
treaties with pure and absolute faith ; to check 
every deviation from the line of impartiality; to 
explain what may have .been misapprehended, and 
correct what may have been injurious to any na- 
tion ; and having thus acquired the right, to lose 
no time in acquiring the ability, to insist upon jus- 
tice being done to ourselves. Let us- unite, there- 
fore, in imploring the Supreme Buler of nations to 
spread his holy protection over these United States ; 
to turn the machinations of the wicked to the con- 
firming of our Constitution ; to enable us at all 
times to root out internal sedition, and put inva- 
sion to flight ; to perpetuate to our country that 
prosperity which his goodness has already con- 
ferred; and to verify the anticipations of this gov- 
ernment being a safeguard to human rights." 

1 T94. — November. To Congress : "When we 
call to mind the gracious indulgence of Heaven, by 
which tlie American people became a nation ; when 
we survey the general prosperity of our countrj', and 
look forward to the riches, power, and happiness 



1 6 Waskmgtons Administration. 

to which it seems destined, — • with the deepest re- 
gret do I announce to you, that, during your recess, 
some of the citizens of the United States have 
been found capable of an insurrection ; ... to 
withstand by force of arms the authority of the 
United States, and thereby to extort a repeal of 
the law of excise, and an alteration in the conduct 
of government. ... I therefore entertain a hope 
that the present session will not pass without car- 
rying to its fullest energy the power of organizing, 
arming, and disciplining the militia ; and thus pro- 
viding, in the language of the Constitution, for 
calling them forth to execute the laws of the 
Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasion." 
Kespecting the Indians, he says, '• Towards none 
of the Indian tribes have overtures of friendship 
been spared." 

1795. — Dec. 8. "I trust I do not deceive 
myself while I. indulge the persuasion that I have 
never met you at any period, when, more than at 
the present, the situation of our public affairs has 
afforded just cause for mutual congratulation, and 
for inviting you to join with me in profound grati- 
tude to the Author of all good for the numerous 



Washington s Administration. \y 

and extraordinary blessings we enjoy. ... A 
treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, has 
been negotiated with Great Britain. . . . Every 
part of the Union displays indications of rapid 
and various improvement ; and with burdens so 
light as scarcely to be perceived, with resources 
fully adequate to our present exigencies, with gov- 
ernments founded on tl\e genuine principles of 
rational liberty, and. with mild and wholesome 
laws, is it too much to say that our country, ex- 
hibits a spectacle of national happiness never sur- 
passed, if ever before equalled ? It is a valua- 
ble ingredient in the general estimate of our wel- 
fare, that the part of our country which was lately 
the scene of disorder and insurrection now enjoys 
the blessings of quiet and order. These circum- 
stances have induced me to pardon, generally, the 
offenders here referred to, and to extend forgive- 
ness to those who have been adjudged to capital 
punishment." 

1796. — Dec. 7. "I find ample reason for a 
renewed expression of that gratitude to the Ruler 
of the universe which a continued series of pros- 
perity has so often and so justly called forth." 
2 



1 8 Washitigton 5 Administration. 

Eespecting the creation of a navy, Washington 
says, " To an active external commerce the protec- 
tion of a naval force is indispensable. This is 
manifest with regard to wars in which a State is 
itself a party. But, besides this, it is in our ex- 
perience that the most sincere neutrality'' is not a 
sufficient guard against the depredations of na- 
tions at war. To secure jespect to a neutral flag 
requires a naval force, organized, and read}'- to vin- 
dicate it from insult or aggression : this may even 
prevent the necessity of going to war. ... I trust a 
future war with Europe may not find our com- 
merce in the same unprotected state in which it 
was found by the present." 

Of manufactures, "Congress have repeatedly, 
and not without success, directed their attention 
to the encouragement of manufactures. The ob- 
ject is of too much consequence not to insure 
a continuance of their efforts." And of agricul- 
ture, "It will not be doubted, that, with refer- 
ence either to individual or national welfare, agri- 
culture is of primary importance : institutions for 
promoting it grow up supported by the public 
purse ; and to what object can it be dedicated with 



Waslmtgtoii s Administration. 19 

greater propriety ? . . . ES:perience has shown that 
these institutions are very cheap instruments of 
immense national benefits. ... I have heretofore 
proposed to the consideration of Congress the ex- 
pediency of establishing a national university, and 
also a military academy. . . . The assembly to which 
I address myself is too enlightened not to be fully 
sensible how much a flourishing state of the arts 
and sciences contributes to national prosperity and 
reputation. The common education of a portion 
of our youth from every quarter deserves attention. 
The more homogeneous our citizeng can be made 
in these particulars, the greater will be our pros- 
pect of permanent union ; and a primary object of 
such a national institution should be the education 
of our youth in the science of government. In a 
republic, what species of knowledge can be equally 
important ? and what duty more pressing on its 
legislature than to patronize a plan for commu- 
nicating it to those who are to be the future guar- 
dians of the liberties of the country ? . . . However 
pacific the -general policy of a nation maybe, it 
ought never to be without an adequate stock of 
military knowledge for emergencies. . . . An academy 



• 20 Washington s Administration. 

where a regular course of instruction is given is 
an obvious expedient, which different nations have 
successfully employed. ... The compensations to 
the officers of the United States appear to call for 
legislative revision. It would be repugnant to the 
vital principles of our government virtually to ex- 
clude from public trusts talents and virtues un- 
less accompanied by wealth." Of the French Re- 
public he says, " It has been my constant, sincere, 
and earnest wish, in conformity with that of our 
nation, to maintain cordial harmony and a per- 
fectly friendly understanding with the Republic. 
This wish remains unabated ; and I shall persevere 
in the endeavor to fulfil it to the utmost extent of 
what shall be consistent with a just and indispen- 
sable regard to the rights and honor of our coun- 
try. Nor w^ill I easily cease to cherish the expec- 
tation, that a spirit of justice, candor, and friend- 
ship, on the part of the Republic, will eventually 
insure success." Respecting the speedy extin- 
guishment of the United States debt, he says, 
"Posterity may have cause to regret, if, from any 
motive, intervals of tranquillity are left unimproved 
for accelerating: this valuable end." 



Washington s Administration. 21 

1797. — The following is the closing lan- 
guage of Washington's last Annual Address to 
Congress : — 

" The situation in which I now stand for the last 
time, in the midst of the representatives of the peo- 
ple of the United States^ naturally recalls the period 
when the administration of the present form of 
government commenced ; and *I cannot omit the 
occasion -to congratulate you and my -country on 
the success of the experiment, nor to repeat my 
fervent supplications to the Supreme Ruler of the 
universe, and Sovereign Arbiter of nations, that his 
providential care may still he extended to the 
'United States, that the virtue and happiness of 
the people may be preserved, and that the gov- 
ernment which they have instituted for the pro- 
tection of their liberties may be perpetual." 

Upon the occasion of his retirement, he issued 
his Farewell Address to the people of th^ United 
States, embodying the results of his experience 
and observation during a long career of public 
service devoted to the highest interests of his 
country. From this address we here pTesent sev- 
eral extracts : — 



22 Washingtofis Administratioft. 

" Of all the dispositions and habits which lead 
to political prosperity, religion and morality are 
indispensable supports. In vain would that man 
claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor 
to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, 
these firmest props of the duties of men and citi- 
zens. The mere politician, equally with the pious 
man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A 
volume co«ld not trace all their connections with 
private and public felicity. Reason and experience 
both forbid us to expect that national niorality can 
prevail in exclusion of religious principle. . . . Ob- 
serve good faith and justice towards all nations; 
cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion 
and morality enjoin this conduct ; and can it be 
that good policy does not equally enjoin it ? Can 
it be that Providence has not connected the perma- 
nent felicity of a nation with its virtue ? . . . The 
great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign 
nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, 
to have with them as little political connection as 
possible. So far as we have already formed en- 
gagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good 
faith. Here let us stop. . . . Harmony, and a liberal 



Washingtoiis Admmistration. 23 

intercourse with all nations, are recommended by 
policy, humanit}'^, and interest. But even our 
commercial policy should hold an equal and im- 
partial hand ; neither seeking nor granting exclu- 
sive favors or preferences ; consulting the natural 
course of things; diffusing and diversifying by 
gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing 
nothing ; constantly keeping in view thaf it is folly 
in one nation to look for disinterested favors from 
another ; that it must pay with a portion of its in- 
dependence for whatever it may accept under that 
character ; that by such acceptance it may place 
itself in the condition of having given equivalents 
for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached 
with ingratitude for not giving more. There can 
be no greater error than to expect or calculate 
upon real favors from nation to nation. ^Tis all 
illusion, which experience must cure, which a just 
pride ought to discard. . . . The nation which in- 
dulges towards another an habitual hatred or an 
habitual fondness, is, in some degree, a slave : it 
is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either 
of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty 
and its interest. . . . Citizens, by birth or choice, of a 



24 WasJiingtoii s Admimstration. 

common country, that country has a right to con- 
centrate your affections. The North, in an unre- 
strained intercourse with the South, protected by 
the equal laws of a common government, finds in 
the productions of the latter great additional re- 
sources of maritime and commercial enterprise, 
and precious materials of manufacturing industry. 
The South, in the same intercourse, benefiting by 
the agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow^ 
and its commerce expand. Turning partly into its 
own channels the seamen of the North, it finds its 
particular navigation invigorated ; and, while it 
contributes in different ways to nourish and in- 
crease the general mass of the national navi- 
gation, it looks forward to the protection of a 
maritime strength. 

" The East, in like intercourse with the West, 
already finds, and, in the progressive improvement 
of interior communication by land and water, will 
more and more find, a valuable vent for the commod- 
ities whicli it brings from abroad, or manufactures 
at home. The West derives from the East sup- 
plies requisite to its growth and comfort ; and 
what is, perhaps, of still greater consequence, it 



WasJihigton s Administration. 25 

must, of necessit}^, owe the secure enjoyment of in- 
dispensable outlets for its own productions to the 
weight, influence, and the future maritime strength, 
of the Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an 
indissoluble community of interest as one nation. 

" In oifering to you, my countrymen, these coun- 
sels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not 
hope they will make the strong and lasting im- 
pression I could wish ; that they will control the 
usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation 
from running the course which has hitherto marked 
the destiny of nations : but if I may even flatter 
myself that they may be productive of some par- 
tial benefit, some occasional good ; that they may 
now and then recur to moderate the fury of party 
spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign in- 
trigue, to guard against the impostures of pretend- 
ed patriotism, — this hope will be a full recompense 
for the solicitude for your welfare by which they 
have been dictated. 

" Though, in reviewing the- incidents of my ad- 
ministration, I am unconscious of intentional error, 
I am, nevertheless, too sensible of my defects not to 
think it probable that I may have committed many 



26 Washingtoji s Administration. 

errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently be- 
seech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils 
to which they may tend. I shall also carry with 
me the hope, that my country will never cease to 
view them with indulgence ; and that, after forty- 
five years of my life dedicated to its service with 
an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities 
will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon 
be to the mansions of rest. 

" George Washington." 

At the close of Washington's administration, the 
Federalists nominated John Adams for President ; 
and the Eepublicans, Thomas Jefferson : and 
Adams was elected by two electoral votes. 



JOHN ADAMS'S ADMINISTRATION. 

1797 TO 1801." 



27 



THE CABINET. 



PRESIDENT: 

JOHN ADAMS, Massachusetts. 

VICE-PRESIDENT : 

THOMAS JEFFERSON, Virginia. 

SECRETARIES OF STATE: 

i'797 — Timothy Pickering, Massachusetts. 
1800. — John Marshall, Virginia. 

SECRETARIES OF THE TREASURY: 

>797 — Oliver Wolcott, Connecticut. 

1800. — S. Dexter, Massachusetts. 

SECRETARIES OF WAR: 

1797 — James McHenry, Maryland. 
1800 — S. Dexter, Massachusetts. 

1801. — Roger Griswold, Connecticut. 

SECRETARIES OF THE NAVY: 

1798. — George Cabot, Massachusetts (declined). 
1798. — Benjamin Stoddert, Maryland 

POSTMASTER-GENERAL : 

1797. — Joseph Habersham, Georgia. 

ATTORNEY-GENERAL: 

1797. — Charles Lee, Virginia. 



CONTEMPORANEOUS ENGLISH HISTORY. 

George IIT., Kingof England. 
Mr. Pitt, Prime- Minister. 
■ F'irst Imperial Parliament of the Union of I 

Great Britain and Ireland. ) 

French War, since 1793, still raging. 
N apoleon First Consul of France. 



JOHN ADAMS. 



From— 1797 to 1801. 

Duration. — One term, — four years. 

Party. — Federalists. 

Principal Events. — War threatened by France on account of 
Jay's treaty with England. American vessels captured by French 
cruisers. Envoys insulted in Paris. French officials expect a 
bribe. Pinckney replies to Talleyrand, " Millions for defence, 
but not one cent for tribute." Congress decides to raise an army. 
"Washington re-appointed commander-in-chief. Navy created in 
1798. Seat of government established in the District of Colum- 
bia. Differences between Adams and Hamilton. Adams and 
the Federalists bitterly opposed by Jefferson and the Republi- 
cans on account of the " alien * and sedition laws " against rebel 
aliens and government libellers: Death of Washington at Mt. 
Vernon, Dec. 14, 1799. Treaty negotiated with Napoleon Bona- 
parte hi 1800. Downfall of Federalism. Election of Jefferson 
by the Republican State sovereignty, or Democratic party. 

1 7 i^ T . — March 4. The Inaugural Address of 
Adams opens as follows : '^ When it was first per- 

* " If Jefferson and Madison deemed the Allen and Sedition Acts 
plain and palpable infractions of the Constitution, Washington and 
Patrick Henry held them to be good and wholesome laws." — Jo^n 
Quincy Adams. 



30 John Adamses Administration. 

ceived, in early times, that no middle course for 
America remained between unlimited submission 
^to a foreign legislature and a total independence 
of its claims, men of reflection were less appre- 
hensive of danger from the formidable power of 
fleets and armies they must determine to resist 
tlian from those contests and dissensions which 
would certainly arise concerning the forms of gov- 
ernments to be instituted over the whole and over 
the parts of this extensive country. Relying, 
however, on the purity of their intentions, the 
justice of their cause, and the integrity and intel- 
ligence of the people, under an overruling Provi- 
dence, which had so signally protected this country 
from the first, the representatives of this nation, 
then consisting of little more than half its present 
numbers, not only broke to pieces the chains which 
were forging, and the rod of iron that was lifted 
up, but frankly cut asunder the ties which had 
bound them, and launched into an ocean of uncer- 
tainty." Alluding briefly to the zeal and ardor 
of the people during the Revolutionary War, and 
the organization of a confederation resulting in the 
Federal Constitution, he continues : " Employed in 



John Adamses Administration. 31 

the service of my country abroad during the whole 
course of these transactions, I first saw the Con- 
stitution of the United States in a foreign country. 
Irritated by no literary altercation, animated by 
no public debate, heated by no party animosity, I 
read it with great satisfaction, as a result of good 
heads prompted by good hearts ; as an experiment 
better adapted to the genius, character, situation, 
and relations of this nation and country than any 
which had ever been proposed or suggested. Re- 
turning to the bosom of my country after a pain- 
ful separation from it for ten years, I had the honor 
to be elected to a station under the new order of 
things ; and I have repeatedly laid myself under 
the most serious obligations to support the Con- 
stitution. The operation of it has equalled the 
most sanguine expectations of its friends ; and 
from an habitual attention to it, satisfaction in its 
administration, and delight in its effects upon 
the peace, order, prosperity, and happiness of the 
nation, I have acquired an habitual attachment to 
it, and veneration for it. What other form of 
government, indeed, can so well deserve our esteem 
and love ? " 



32 yolm Adams's Administration. 

May 17. — " It would liave afforded me the high- 
est satisfaction to. have been able to congratulate 
you on a restoration of peace to the nations of 
Europe, whose animosities have endangered. our 
tranquillity ; but we have still abundant cause of 
gratitude to the Supreme Dispenser of national 
blessings, for general health and promising seasons, 
for domestic and social happiness, for the rapid 
progress and ample acquisitions of industry 
•through extensive territories, for civil, political, 
and religious liberty. While other States are des- 
olated with foreign war, or convulsed with intes- 
tine divisions, the United States presented the 
pleasing prospect of a nation governed by mild 
and equal laws, generally satisfied with the pos- 
session of their rights ; neither envying the ad- 
vantages, nor fearing the powet, of other nations ; 
yielding a ready. and general obedience to laws 
flowing from the reason, and resting on the only 
solid foundation, — the affections of the people. It 
is with extreme regret that I shall be obliged to 
turn your thoughts to other circumstances, which 
admonish us that some of these felicities may not 
be lasting. . . . 



JoJm Adams's Administration. 33 

"A few days before his arrival at Paris, the French 
minister of foreign affairs informed the American 
minister, then resident at Paris, of tlie formalities 
to be observed by himself in taking leave, and by 
his successor preparatory to his reception. These 
formalities they observed, and, on the 9th of 
December, presented oiBcially to the minister of 
foreign relations, — the one, a copy of his letter 
of recall ; the other, a copy of his letter of credence : 
these were laid before the Executive Directory. 
Two days afterwards, the minister of foreign rela- 
tions informed the recalled American minister 
that the Executive Directory had determined not 
to receive another minister-plenipotentiary from 
the United States until after the redress of griev- 
ances demanded of the American Government, and 
which the French republic had a right to expect 
from it. The American minister immediately en- 
deavored to ascertain whether, by refusing to re- 
ceive him, it was intended that he shf>uld retire 
from the territories of the French republic ; and 
verbal answers were given, that such was the in- 
tention of the Directory. For his own justification 
he desire(i a written answer^ but obita,ined ilOftQ 

3. 



34 yoJm Adams's Administration, 

until towards the last of January ; when, receiving 
notice, in writing, to quit the territories of the 
republic, he proceeded to Amsterdam, where he 
proposed to wait for instructions from his govern- 
ment. During his residence at Paris, cards of 
hospitality were refused him, and he was' threat- 
ened with being subjected to the jurisdiction of 
the minister of police ; but with becoming firm- 
ness he insisted on the protection of the law of 
nations due to him as the known minister of a 
foreign power. The speech of the president dis- 
closes sentiments more alarming than the refusal 
of a minister, because more dangerous to our in- 
dependence and union, and at the same time 
studiously marked with indignities towards the 
government of the United States. It evinces a 
disposition to separate the people of the United 
States itom the , government ; to persuade them 
that they have different affections, principles, and 
interests from those of their fellow-citizens whom 
they themselves have chosen to manage their 
common concerns; and thus to produce divisions 
fatal to our peace. I should have been happy to 
have thrown a veil oyer these tra.nsaetJo»s, if it 



John Adams's Administration. 35 

had been possible to conceal them; but they 
have passed on the great theatre of the world in 
the face of all Europe and America, and with such 
circumstances of publicity and solemnity, that 
they cannot be disguised, and will not soon be 
forgotten. They have inflicted a wound in the 
American breast : it is my sincere desire, how- 
ever, that it may be healed. It is my desire, and 
in this I presume I concur with you and with 
our constituents, to preserve peace and friendship 
with all nations; and, believing that neither the 
honor nor the interest of the United States ab- 
solutely forbids the repetition of advances for se- 
curing these desirable objects with France, I shall 
institute a fresh attempt at negotiation, and shall 
not fail to promote and accelerate an accommoda- 
tion on terms compatible with the rights, duties, 
interests, and honor of the nation. If we have 
committed errors, and these can be demonstrated, 
we shall be willing to correct them ; if we have 
done injuries, we shall be willing, on conviction, 
to redress them : and equal measures of justice we 
have a right to expect from France and every 
other nation. While we are endeavoring to adjust 



36 John Adamses Administration. 

all our differences with France by amicable nego- 
tiation, the progress of the war in Europe, the 
depredations on our commerce, the personal in- 
juries to our citizens, and the general complexion 
of affairs, render it my indispensable duty to. rec- 
ommend to your consideration effectual measures 
of defence. With a seacoast of near two thou- 
sand miles in extent, opening a wide field for 
fisheries, navigation, and commerce, a great por-- 
tion of our citizens naturally apply their industry 
and enterprise to these objects. Any serious and 
permanent injury to commerce would not fail to 
•produce the most embarrassing disorders : to pre- 
vent it from being undermined and destroyed, it is 
essential that it receive an adequate protection. 
A naval power, next to the militia, is the natural 
defence of the United States. However we may 
consider ourselves, the maritime and commercial 
powei;^ of the world will consider the United States 
of America as forming a weight in that balance 
of power in Europe which never can be forgotten 
or neglected. ... It is impossible to conceal from 
ourselves or the world that endeavors have been 
employed to foster and establish a division between 



John Adams's Admi7iistration. . 37 

the government and the people of the United 
States. To investigate the causes which have en- 
couraged this attempt is not necessary ; but to 
repel by decided and united councils insinuations 
so derogatory to the honor, and aggressions so 
dangerous to the constitution, union, and even in- 
dependence, of the nation, is an indispensable duty. 
It must not be permitted to be doubted whether 
the people of the United States will support the 
government established by their voluntary consent, 
and appointed b}'' their free choice ; or whether, 
by surrendering themselves to the direction of 
foreign and domestic factions, in opposition to their 
own government, they will forfeit the honorable 
station they have hitherto maintained." 

Nov. 23. — " Although I cannot yet congrat- 
ulate you on the re-establishment of peace in 
Europe, and the restoration of security to the per- 
sons and properties of our citizens from injustice 
and violence at sea, we have, nevertheless, abundant 
causes of gratitude to the Source of benevolence 
and influence for interior tranquillity and per- 
sonal security; for propitious seasons, prosper- 
ous agriculture, productive fisheries, and general 



38 yohn Adams's Administration i 

improvements; and, above all, for a rational spirit 
of civil and religious liberty, and a calm but steady 
determination to support our sovereignty as well 
as our moral and religious principles against all 
open and secret attacks. Our envoys-extraor- 
dinary to the French republic embarked, one in 
July, the other early in August, to join their col- 
league in Holland. I have received intelligence 
of the arrival of both of them in Holland, from 
whence they all proceeded on their journeys to 
Paris. Several decisions on the claims of citizens 
of the United States for losses and damages sus- 
tained by reason of irregular and illegal captures 
have been made by the commissioners in London, 
conformable to the seventh article of the treaty. 
The sums awarded by the commissioners have 
been paid by the British Government. A consid- 
erable number of other claims, where costs and 
damages, and not captured property, were the only 
objects in question, have been decided by arbitra- 
tion ; and the sums awarded to the citizens of the 
United States have also been paid." 

1798. _ Dec. 8. "The United States will 
steadily observe the maxims by which they have 



John Adams's Administration. 39 

hitherto been governed. They will respect the 
sacred rights of embassy ; and with a sincere 
disposition on the part of Prance to desist from 
hostility, to make reparation for the injuries here- 
tofore inflicted on our commerce, and to do justice 
in future, there will be no obstacle to the restoration 
of a friendly intercourse. I give a pledge to 
France and to the world, that the executive au- 
thority of this country still adheres to the humane 
and pacific policy which has invariably governed 
its proceedings in conformity with the wishes of 
the other branches of the government and of the 
people of the United States. Harmony between 
us and France may be restored at her option." 

1799. — Dec. 3. *^The flattering prospects 
of abundance from the labors of the people by 
land and by sea ; the prosperity of our extended 
commerce, notwithstanding interruptions occa- 
sioned by the belligerent state of a great part of 
the w^orld ; the return of health, industry, and 
trade to those cities which have lately been af- 
flicted with disease ; .and the various and inestima- 
ble advantages, civil and religious, which, secured 
under our happy frame of government, are con- 



40 John Adams's Administration. 

tinned to ns unimpaired, — demand of the whole 
American people sincere thanks to a benevolent 
Deity for the merciful dispensations of his provi- 
dence.'^ 

1800.— Nov. 22. "A treaty of amity and 
commerce with the King of Prussia has been con- 
cluded and ratified. The envoys-extraordinary 
and ministers-plenipotentiary froip the United 
States to France were received by the First Consul 
with the respect due to their character; and three 
persons with equal powers were appointed to treat 
with them. 

'^ Immediately after the adjournment of Congress 
at their last session in Philadelphia, I gave direc- 
tions, in compliance with the laws, for the removal 
of the public offices, records, and property. These 
directions have been executed; and the public 
otficers have since resided, and conducted the or- 
dinary business of the government, in this place 
(Washington). I congratulate the people of the 
United States on the assembling of Congress at 
the permanent seat of their government; and I 
congratulate you," gentlemen, on the prospect of 
a residence not to be changed. 



John Adams's Administration. 41 

"It would be unbecoming the representatives 
of this nation to assemble for the first time in this 
solemn temple without looking up to the Supreme 
E-uler of .the universe, and imploring his blessing. 
May this territory be the residence of virtue and 
happiness ! In this city may that piety and virtue, 
that wisdom and magnanimity, that constancy and 
self-government, which adorned the great char- 
acter whose name it bears, be forever hehl in ven- 
eration ! Here, and throughout our country, may 
simple manners, pure morals, and true religion, 
flourish forever ! . . . "^'John Adams." 



JEFFEESON'S ADMINISTKATION. 

1801 TO 1809. 



43 



THE CABINET. 



PRESIDENT: 

THOMAS JEFFERSON, Virginia. 

VICE-PRESIDENTS: 

1801. — AARON BURR, New York. 
1805. — GEORGE CLINTON, New York. 

SECRETARY OF STATE: 

i8or. — James Madison, Virginia. 

SECRETARIES OF THE TREASURY: 

1801. — S. Dexter, Massachusetts. 

1802. —Albert Gallatin, Pennsylvania. 

SECRETARY OF WAR: 

1801. — Henry Dearborn, Massachusetts. 

SECRETARIES OF THE NAVY: 

1801. — Benjamin Stoddert, Maryland. 

1802. — Robert Smith, Maryland. 

1805. — Jacob Crowninshield, Massachusetts. 

POSTMASTERS-GENERAL: 

1801. — Joseph Habersham, Georgia. 

1802. — Gideon Granger, Connecticut. 

ATTORNEYS-GENERAL: 

1801. — Theophilus Parsons, Massachusetts (declined). 
1801. — l.EVi Lincoln, Massachusetts. 
1805. — Robert Smith, Maryland. 
1805. — John Breckenridge, Kentucky. 
1807. — C^SAR A. Rodney, Delaware. 



CONTEMPORANEOUS ENGLISH HISTORY. 

George Tit., King of England. 
Mr. Addington, l-'rime-Minister, 1801 to 1804. 
Mr. Pitt, Prime-Minister, 1804, until his death, at 47, in 1806. 
Lord Grenville, and Duke of Portland, 1806 to iSog. 
The Peace of Amiens in 1802. 
Renewal of war with France in 1803. 
Abolition of the slave-trade in 1807. 
Peninsular War commenced in 1S08. 
44 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. 



From — 1801 to 1809. 

Duration. — Two terms, — eight years. 

Party. -^ Republican (State-Sovereignty or Democratic). 

Principal Events. — Ohio admitted into the Union in 1802. Lou- 
isiana ceded by Spain to France in 1800; purchased from France, 
for fifteen millions of dollars, in 1803. War with Tripoli, Africa, 
on account of seizures of American vessels. Duel between Burr 
and Hamilton, and death of the latter. Impressment of American 
seamen by British oflSccrs. Conspiracy of Burr to divide the 
Union : trial for treason ; acquitted, 1807. American frigate 
" Chesapeake " fired into by the British frigate " Leopard." 
Embargo Act passed, December, 1807. Non-intercourse with 
Great Britain and France in 1809. James Madison elected Presi- 
dent. 

1801.— March 4. "About to enter, fellow- 
citizens, on the exercise of duties which compre- 
hend every thing dear ajid valuable to you, it is 
proper you should understand what I deem the 
essential principles of our government, and, conse- 
quently, those which ought to shape its adminis- 
tration. I will compress them within the narrow- 

4^ 



46 Jefferson 's Admiitistration, 

est compass -they will bear, stating the general 
principle, but not all its limitations: Equal and 
exact justice to all men, of whatever State or per- 
suasion, religious or political ; peace, commerce, 
and honest friendship, with all nations, entangling 
alliances witli none ; the support of the State gov- 
ernments in all their rights, as the most compe- 
tent administrations for our domestic concerns, and 
the surest bulwarks against anti-republican ten- 
dencies; the preservation of the General Govern- 
ment in its wliole constitutional vigor, as the 
sheet-anchor of our peace at home, and safety 
abroad ; a jealous care of the right of election by 
the people, a mild and safe corrective of abuses 
which are lopped by the sword of revolution where 
peaceable remedies are unprovided ; absolute ac- 
quiescence in the decisions of the majority, the 
vital principle of republics, from which there is no 
appeal but to force, the vital principle and imme- 
diate parent of despotism ; a well-disciplined mili- 
tia, our best reliance in peace, and for the first 
moments of war, till regulars may relieve them ; 
the supremacy of the civil over the military au- 
thority; economy in the public expenses, that 



Jefferson^ s Administration. 47 

labor may be lightly burdened ; the honest pay«- 
ment of .our debts, and sacred preservation of the 
public faith ; encouragement of agriculture, and of 
commerce as its handmaid ; tho diffusion of infor- 
mation, and arraignment of all abuses at the bar 
of the public reason ; freedom of religion, free- 
dom of the press, and freedom of person under 
the protection of the haheas-cor-pus ; and trial by 
juries impartially selected. These principles form 
the bright cojistellation which has gone before us, 
and guided our steps through an age of revolution 
and reformation. The wisdom of our sages, and 
blood of -our heroes, have been devoted to- their 
attainment : they should be the creed of our politi- 
cal faith, the text of civic instruction, the touch- 
stone by which to try the services of those we 
trust ; and, should we wander from them in mo- 
ments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace 
our steps, and to regain the road which alone leads 
to peace, liberty, and safety. ... I repair then, fel- 
low-citizens, to the post you have assigned me, with 
experience enough in subordinate offices to have 
seen the difficulties of this, the greatest of all. I 
have learned to expect that it will rarely fall to the 



48 Jefferson 's Administration. 

1^ of imperfect man to retire from this station 
with the reputation and the favor which bring 
him into it. Without pretensions to that high 
confidence you reposed in our first and greatest 
revohitionary character, whose pre-eminent services 
entitled him to the first place in his country's 
love, and destined for him the fairest page in the 
volume of faithful historj^, I ask so much confi- 
dence only as may give firmness and eff'ect to the 
legal administration of your aff'airs." 

1801, — Dec. 8. ''It is a circumstance of sin- 
cere gratification to me, that, on meeting the great 
council of the nation, I am able to announce to 
them, on grounds of reasonable certainty, that the 
wars and troubles which have for so many years 
afflicted our sister-nations have at length come to 
an end, and that the communications of peace 
and commerce are once more opening among them. 
Among our Indian neighbors, also, a spirit of peace 
and friendship generally prevails. We may now 
safely dispense with all the internal taxes, compre- 
hending excises, stamps, auctions, licenses, car- 
riages, and refined sugars. To this state of gen- 
eral peace with which we have been blessed one 



yefferson's Administration. 49 

only exception exists. Tripoli, the least consider- 
able of the Barbary States, has come forward with 
demands unfounded either in right or in compact, 
and has permitted itself to denounce war on our 
failure to comply before a given day. The style 
of the demand admitted but one answer. I sent 
a small squadron of frigates into the Mediterra- 
nean, with assurances to that power of our sincere 
desire to remain in peace, but with orders to pro- 
tect our commerce against the threatened attack. 
The measure was seasonable and salutary. A 
statement has been formed by the secretary-at- 
war, on mature consideration, of all the posts and 
stations where garrisons will be expedient, and of 
the number of men requisite for each garrison. 
Uncertain as we must ever be of the particular 
point in our circumference where an enemy may 
choose to invade us, the only force which can be 
ready at every point, and competent to oppose 
them, is the body of neighboring citizens as 
formed into a militia. On these, collected from 
the parts most convenient in numbers proportioned 
to the invading force, it is best to rely, not only to 
meet the first attack, but, if it threatens to be 



50 Jefferson 's Administration.. 

permanent, to maintain the defence until regulars 
may be engaged to relieve them. Agriculture, 
manufactures, commerce, and navigation, the four 
pillars of our prosperity, are most thriving when 
left most free to individual enterprise. Protection 
from casual embarrassments, however, may some- 
times be seasonably interposed. I cannot omit 
recommending a revisal of the laws on the subject 
of naturalization. Shall we refuse to the unhappy 
fugitives from distress that hospitality which the 
savages of the wilderness extended to our fathers 
arriving in this land ? Shall oppressed humanity 
find no asylum on this globe ? The Constitution, 
indeed, has wisely provided, that, for admission 
to certain offices of important trust, a residence 
shall be required sufficient to develop character 
and design; but might not the general character 
and capabilities of a citizen be safely communi- 
cated to every one manifesting a hond-fide purpose 
of embarking his life and fortunes permanently 
with us ? " 

1802. — Dec. 15. •' Another year is come 
around, and finds us still blessed with peace and 
friendship abroad ; law, order, and religion at home ; 



Jefferson s Administration. 51 

good affection and harmony with our Indian neigh- 
bors ; our burdens h'glitened, yet our income suffi- 
cient for the public wants, and the produce of the 
3^ear great beyond example. These, fellow- 
citizens, are the circumstances under which we 
meet; and we remark with special satisfaction 
those which, under the smiles of Providence, re- 
sult from the skill, industry, and order of our citi- 
zens, managing their own affairs in their own way 
and for their own use, unembarrassed by too much 
regulation, un oppressed by fiscal exactions. In 
the department of finance, it is with pleasure 
I inform you that the receipts of external duties 
for the last twelve months have exceeded those of 
any former year, and that the ratio of increase has 
been also greater than usual. This has enabled us 
to answer all the regular exigencies of govern- 
ment ; to pay from the treasury, within one year, 
upwards of eight millions of dollars, principal and 
interest, of the public debt, exclusive of upwards 
of one million paid by the sale of bank-stock, and 
making in the whole a reduction of nearly five 
millions and a half of principal; and to have now 
in the treasury four millions and a half of dollars, 



52 Jefferson's Administration. 

wliicli are in a course of application to the further 
discharge of debt and current demands." 

1803. — Oct. 17. "The property and sover- 
eignty of all Louisiana has been transferred to the 
United States by instruments bearing date the 
30th of April last. Should the acquisition be 
constitutionally confirmed and carried into effect, 
a sum of nearly thirteen millions of dollars will 
then be added to our public debt, most of which is 
payable after fifteen years ; before which term the 
present existing debts will all be discharged by the 
established operation of the sinking-fund. Wo 
have seen with sincere concern the flames of war 
lighted up again in Europe, and nations with 
which we have the most friendly and useful rela- 
tions engaged in mutual destruction. While we 
regret the miseries in which we see others involved, 
let us bow with gratitude to that kind Providence, . 
which, inspiring with wisdom and moderation our 
late legislative councils while placed under the 
urgency of the greatest wrongs, guarded us from 
hastily entering into the sanguinary contest, and 
left us only to look on and to pity its ravages. 
These will bo heaviest on those immediately en- 



Jefferson's Administration, 53 

gaged. Yet the nations pursuing peace will not 
be exempt from all evil. Separated by a wide 
ocean from tlie nations of Europe and from the 
political interests which entangle them together, 
with productions and wants which render our com- 
merce and friendship useful to them, and theirs to 
us, it cannot be the interest of any to assail us, 
nor ours to disturb them. We should be most un- 
wise indeed were we to cast away the singular 
blessings of the position in which Nature has 
placed us ; the opportunity she has endowed us 
with of pursuing, at a distance from foreign con- 
tentions, the paths of industry, peace, and happi- 
ness, of cultivating general friendship, and of 
bringing collisions of interest to the umpire of 
reason rather than of force." 

1804. — Nov. 8. Eighth Congress, second 
session. '^ With the nations of Europe in general 
our friendship and^ intercourse are undisturbed; 
and from the governments of the belligerent 
powers especially we continue to receive those 
friendly manifestations which are justly due to an 
honest neutralit}'', and to such good offices con- 
sistent with that as we have opportunities of 



54 Jefferso7t's Adinifiistration. 

rendering. The state of our finances continues 
to fulfil our expectation. Eleven millions and a 
half, received in the course of the last year 
ending on the 30th of September- last, have 
enabled us, after meeting all the ordinary expenses 
of the year, to pay three million six hundred 
thousand dollars of the principal of the public 
debt. This j^ayment, with those of the two pre- 
ceding years, has extinguished upwards of twelve 
millions of the principal, and a greater sum of 
interest within that period." 

1805. — March 4. Inaugural, second term. 
" The remaining revenue on the consumption of 
foreign articles is paid cheerfully by those who 
can afford to add foreign luxuries to domestic 
comforts. Being collected on our seaboard and 
frontiers only, and incorporated with the transac- 
tions of our mercantile citizens^ it may be the 
pleasure and ' the pride of ayt American to ask, 
What farmer, what mechanic, what laborer, ever 
sees a tax-gatherer of the United States ? I know 
that the acquisition of Louisiana has been disap-. 
proved by some from a candid apprehension that 
the enlargement of our territory would endanger 



Jefferson's Admiftistration. 55 

its union. But who can limit the extent to which 
the federative principle may operate effectivel}'' ? 
The larger our association, the less will it be 
shaken by local passions ; and, in any view, is it 
not better that the opposite bank of the Missis- 
sippi should be settled by our own brethren and chil- 
dren than by strangers of another family ? With 
which shall we be most likely to live in harmony 
and friendly intercourse ? In matters of religion, 
I have considered that its free exercise is placed 
by the Constitution independent of the powers 
of the General Government. Contempla-ting the 
union of sentiment now manifestec^ so generally 
as auguring harmony and happiness to our future 
course, I offer to our country sincere congratula- 
tions. With those, too, not yet rallied to the same 
point, the disposition to do, so is gaining strength. 
Facts are piercing through the veil drawn over 
them ; and o,ur doubting brethren will at length 
see that the mass -of their fellow-oitizeus, with 
whom they cannot yet resolve to ^t as to prin- 
ciples and measures, think as they think, and 
desire what they desire ; that our wish, as well as 
theirs, is, that the public efforts may be directed 



5^ y^ff^rsoji's Administration. 

honestly to the public good ; that peace be culti- 
vated, civil and religious liberty unassailed, law 
and order preserved, equalit}' of rights maintained, 
and that state of property, equal or unequal, wliicli 
results to every man from his own industry .or 
that of his fathers. When satisfied of these 
views, it is not in human nature that they should 
not approve and support them. ... I shall now en- 
ter on the duties to which my fellow-citizens have 
again called me. I shall need all the indulgence 
I have lieretofore experienced: the want of it 
will certainly not lessen with increasing years. I 
shall need, too, the favor of that Being in whose 
hands we are ; who led our forefathers, as Israel of 
old, from their native land, and planted them in a 
country flowing with all the necessaries and 
comforts of life; who has covered our infancy 
with his providence, and our riper years with his. 
wisdom and power; and to whose goodness I ask 
you to join with me in supplications that he will 
so enlighten the minds of your servants, guide 
their counsels, and prosper their measures, that 
whatsoever they do shall result in your good, and 
shall secure to you the peace, friendship, and ap- 
probation of uU nations." 



yefferson's Admmistration. 57 

1805. — Dec. 3. " Since our last meeting, the 
aspect of our foreign relations has considerahly 
changed. Our coasts have been infested and our 
harbors watched by private-armed vessels; some 
of them without cominissions, some with ille- 
gal commissions, others with those of legal 
form, but committing piratical acts_ beyond the 
authority of their commissions. They have 
captured in the very entrance of our harbors, 
as well as on the high seas, not only the vessels 
of our friends coming to trade with us, but our own 
also. They have carried them off under pretence 
of legal adjudication ; but, not daring to approach 
a court of justice, the}^ have plundered and sunk 
them by the Nyay, or in obscure places, where no 
evidence could arise against them ; maltreated the 
crews, and abandoned them in boats, in the open 
sea or on desert shores, without food or covering. 
These enormities appearing to be unreached by 
any control of their sovereigns, I found it neces- 
sary to equip a force to cruise within our own 
seas to arrest all vessels of these descriptions 
found hovering on our coasts within the limits of 
the Gulf Stream, and to bring the offenders m for 



5 8 Jefferson s Administratioju 

trial as pirates. The same system of hovering on 
our coasts and harbors under color of seeking 
enemies has been also carried on by public-armed 
ships, to the great annoyance and oppression of 
our commerce. . . . With Spain our negotiations 
for a settlement of differences have not had a 
satisfactory issue. . . . On the Mobile, our com- 
merce passing through that river continues to be 
obstructed by arbitrary duties and^ vexatious 
searches. Propositions for adjusting amicably the 
boundaries of Louisiana have not been acceded 
to. Inpoads have been recently made into tlie 
territories of Orleans and the Mississij^pi. Our 
citizens have been seized and their property plun- 
dered in the very ports of the forme j", which had 
been actually delivered up by Spain, and this by 
the regular officers and soldiers of that govern- 
ment. . . . Turning from these unpleasant views 
of violence and wrong, I congratulate you on the 
liberation of our fellow-citizens who were stranded 
on the coast of Tripoli and made prisoners of 
war. In a government bottomed on the will of 
all, the life and liberty of every individual citizen 
becomes interesting to all. Congress, by their 



Jefferson's Adininistration. 59 

act of Nov. 10, 1803, authorized us to borrow 
one million seven hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars towards meeting the claims of our citizens 
assumed by the Convention with France. We 
have not, however, made use of this authorit}^, 
because the sum of four millions and a half, which 
remained in the treasury on the same thirtieth day 
of September last, with the receix)ts which we may 
calculate on for the ensuing year, besides paying 
the annual sum of eight millions of dollars .appro- 
priated to the funded debt, and meeting all the 
current demands which may be expected, will 
enable us to pay the whole sum" of three million 
seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars assumed 
by the French Convention, and still leave us a 
surplus of nearly a million of dollars at our free 
disposal." 

1806.— Dec. 2. "The delays which have taken 
place in our negotiations with the British Govern- 
ment appear to have proceeded from causes which- 
do not forbid the expectation, that, during the 
course of the session, I may be enabled to lay 
before you their final issue, What will be that of 
the negotiations for settling our differences with 



6o Jejferson 's Administration. 

Spain, nothing wliicli had taken place at the date 
of the last despatches enables us to pronounce. 
On the western side of the Mississippi she ad- 
vanced in considerable force, and took post at the 
settlement of Bayou Pierre, on the Bed E,iver. 
This village was originally settled by France, was 
held by her as long as she -held Louisiana, and 
was delivered to Spain only as a part of Louisi- 
ana. . . . The possession of both banks of the 
Mississippi reducing to a single point the defence 
of that river, its waters, and the country adjacent, 
it becomes highly necessary to provide for that 
point a more adequate security. The gunboats 
autl^orized by an act of the last session are so 
advanced, that they will be ready for service in 
the ensuing spring. . . . The receipts at the treas- 
ury daring the year ending on the thirtieth day of 
September last have amounted to near fifteen 
millions of dollars; which have enabled us, after 
meeting the current demands, to pay two million 
seven hundred thousand dollars of the American 
claims in part of the price of Louisiana; to pay 
of the funded del^t upward of three millions of 
priqcipal, and ne^^rly fqur of interest; and, in 



Jefferson's Administration. 6 1 

addition, to re-imburse in the course of the present 
month near two millions of five and a half per 
cent stock. These payments and re-imbursements 
of the funded debt, with those which had been 
made in the four years and a half preceding, will, 
at the close of the present year, have extinguished 
upward of twenty-three millions of principal." 

. 1807. — Oct. 27. " Circumstances, fellow-citi- 
zens, whicli seriously threatened the peace of our 
countrj'-, have made it a duty to convene you at an 
earlier period than usual. All the circumstances 
which induced the extraordinary mission to Lon- 
don are already known to you. . . . On the 
twenty-second day of June last, by a formal order 
from a British admiral, the frigate ^ Chesapeake,' 
leaving her port for a distant service, was attacked 
by one of those vessels which had been lying in 
our harbors under the indulgences of hospitality ; 
was disabled from proceeding ; had several of her 
crew killed, and four taken away. On this outrage 
no commentaries are necessary. Its character has 
been pronounced by the indignant voice of our 
citizens with an emphasis and unanimity never 
exceeded. The aggression thus begun has been 



62 Jefferson s Administration, 

coutinued, on the part of the British commanders, 
by remaining within our waters in defiance of the 
authority of the country, by habitual violations 
of its jurisdiction, and at length by putting to 
death one of the persons whom they had forcibly 
taken from on board ^The Chesapeake.' To 
former violations of maritime rights, another is 
now added of very extensive effect. The govern- 
ment of that nation has issued an order interdict- 
ing all trade by neutrals between ports not in 
amity with them; and, being how at war with 
nearly every nation on the Atlantic and Mediter- 
ranean seas, our vessels are required to sacrifice 
their cargoes at the first port they touch, or to 
return without the benefit of going to any other 
market. Under this new law of the ocean, our 
trade on the Mediterranean has been swept away 
by seizures and condemnations ; and that in other 
seas is threatened with the same fate. . . . Our dif- 
ferences with Spain remain still unsettled. . . . With 
the other nations of Europe our harmony has been 
uninterrupted. . . . The gunboats already pro- 
vided have been chiefly assigned to New York, 
New Orleans, and the Chesapeake. ... I informed 



Jejfersons Administration. 6i 

Congress, at their last session, of the enterprises 
against the public peace which were believed to 
be in preparation by Aaron Burr and his associ- 
ates ; of the measures taken to defeat them, and to 
bring the offenders to justice." 

1808. — Nov. 8. "The communications made 
to Congress at their last session explained the 
posture in v^ich the close of the discussion rela- 
tive to the attack by a British ship of war on the 
frigate ' Chesapeake ' left a subject on which the 
nation had manifested so honorable a sensibility. 
Every view of what had passed authorized a 
belief that immediate steps would be taken by the 
British Government for redressing a wrong, 
which, the more it was investigated, appeared the 
more clearly to require what had not been pro- 
vided for in the special mission. It is found that 
no steps have been taken for the purpose. On the 
contrary, it will be seen in the documents laid 
before you that the inadmissible preliminary 
which obstructed the adjustment is still adhered 
to, and, moreover, that it is now brought into con- 
nection with the distinct and irrelative case of the 
orders in council. . . . With our Indian neighbors 



64 yeffcrsoii's Adminisiration. 

the public peace lias been steadily maintained. . . . 
Of the gunboats authorized, it has been thought 
necessary to build only a hundred and three in the 
present j^ear. . . . Considering the extraordinary 
character of the times in which we live, our atten- 
tion should unremittingly be fixed on the safety 
of the country. For a people who are free, and 
who mean to remain so, a well organized and 
armed militia is their best security. . . . Availing 
myself of this, — the last occasion which will 
occur of addressing the two houses, — I cannot omit 
the expression of my sincere gratitude for the 
repeated proofs of confidence manifested to me by 
themselves and their predecessors since my call to 
the administration, and the many indulgences ex- 
perienced at their hands. The same grateful 
acknowledgments are due to my fellow-citizens 
generall}^, whose support has been my great 
encouragement under all embarrassments. . . . 
Retiring from the charge of their affairs, I carry 
with me the consolation of a firm persuasion that 
Heaven has in store for our beloved country long 
ages to come of prosperity and happiness. 

"Thomas Jeffersox." 



MADISON'S ADMINISTRATION. 

1809 TO 1817. 



THE CABINET. 



PRESIDENT: 

JAMES MADISON, Virginia. 

VICE-PRESIDENTS : 
GEORGE CLINTON, New York. 
ELBRIDGE GERRY, Massachusetts. 

SECRETARIES OF STATE: 

1809. — Robert Smith, Mar)jland. 
1811. — James Monroe, Virginia. 

SECRETARIES OF THE TREASURY: 

1809. — Albert Gallatin, Pennsylvania. 

1814. — G. W. Campbell, Tennassee. 

1814. — Alexander J. Dallas, Pennsylvania. 

SECRETARIES OF WAR : 

i8og. — William Eustis, Massachusetts. 

1813. — John Armstrong, New York. 

1814. — James Monroe, Virginia. 
1815. — Wm. H. Crawford, Georgia. 

SECRETARIES OF THE NAVY: 

i8oq. — Paul Hamilton, South Carolina. 

1813. — William Jones, Pennsylvania. 

1814. — Benjamin W. Crowninshield, Massachusetts. 

POSTMASTERS-GENERAL : 
1809. — Gideon Granger, Connecticut. 
1814. — R. J. Meigs, Ohio. 

ATTORNEYS-GENERAL : 
1809. — C^sar a. Rodney, Delaware. 
181 1. — William Pinckney, Maryland. 
1814. — Richard Rush, Pennsylvania. 



CONTEMPORANEOUS ENGLISH HISTORY. 

George III., King of England. 

Mr. Spencer Perceval, Prime-Minister, .1810 to 1812. (Assassi- 
nated May II.) 

Lord Liverpool, Prime-Minister, 1812 to 1817. 

Peninsular War, American War, and Waterloo. 

Napoleon escapes from Elba, March i, 1815. England, Austria, 
Prussia, and Russia allied against him. Returns to Paris the 20th ; 
supplants Louis XVIII. Fights at Waterloo, June 18 ; abdicates on the 
22d. Surrenders, and is exiled to St. Helena, July 15. 

Vote of thanks and $1,000,000 presented to the Duke of Wellington. 



JAMES MADISON. 



From — 1809 to 1817. 
Duration. — Two terras, — eight years. 
Party. — Republican. 

Principal Events. — Continued difficulties with England. Fa- 
vorable negotiations commenced with Erskine, the resident British 
minister. Intercourse again opened with Great Britain. Nego- 
tiations disavowed by the ministry. Non-intercourse re-estab- 
lished. Ocean covered with French and English cruisers, and 
Danish privateers, plundering American vessels. Bonaparte is- 
sues the " Rambouillet Decree" against American vessels enter- 
ing French ports. One hundred and thirty-two ships captured and 
sold for ei;4ht million dollars by the French Government. Arch- 
angel, Russia, the only port open to the United States. Rencounter 
between the American frigate " President," off Delaware, and 
" The Little Belt." Inland troubles increase. In 1811, Tecuraseh, 
and his twin-brother the Prophet, stir up a revolt. Gen. William 
Henry Harrison, the Governor of Indiana Territory, conquers at 
Tippecanoe. American commerce still interfered with. Impress- 
ment of American seamen. Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun 
members of the House. Question of peace, or war, agitated. Sea- 
port towns against it; interior and Western towns for it. War 
declared June 18, 1812. Professorships established at West-Point 
Academy. Gen. Hull crosses from Detroit to Canada, and- is 
forced to surrender to Gen. Brock, the governor. France re- 
peals the Berlin and Milan Decrees, and Great Britain repeals 
her Orders in Council. Impressment question still unsettled . 
sis thousond cases on record at Washington. Sixteen hundred 

67 



68 Madison s Admmistratio7t, 

Americans in British navy. British press-gangs led by insolent 
officers. Britain demands that Englishmen in America shall 
not enter our service, notwithstanding service is expected from 
Americans and others in England. Major-Gen. Dearborn and 
Gen. Van Renssejaer have charge of Lake Champlain; Capt. 
Chauncy, of the Lakes Erie and Ontario. Lieut. Elliot captures 
two vessels on Lake Erie. Lieut. Winfield Scott and Capt. "Wool 
direct at Queenstown. Gen. Brock slain. " The Constitution," 
Old Ironsides, is chased by British ships four days, and escapes; 
is afterwards attacked by "The Guerriire " near the St. Law- 
rence, and captures her, Aug. 19, 1812. " The United States," 
Capt. Decatur, off the Azores, captures " The Macedonian." '* The 
Wasp" captures " The Frolic." Both brigs afterward taken by 
" The Poictiers," seventy -four-gun ship. Near Brazil, " The Con- 
stitution " takes " The Java." Average loss in these engage- 
ments, eight of the English to one of the Americans. England 
is mortified at the loss of her frigates. America, flushed with 
victory, goes on to new conquests; and five hundred British 
vessels and three frigates are captured in seven months by the 
Americans. The West, aroused, forms three armies : Gen. Har- 
rison, at Lake Erie ; Gen. Dearborn, Ontario ; Gen. Wade, Lake 
Champlain, against Gens. Prevost, Proctor, and Sheafe,in Canada. 
Gen. Winchester, advancing from Kentucky, is captured, and 
surrenders. Gen. Clay holds Fort Meigs against Tecumseh and 
Proctor. February, 1813. — Capt. James Lawrence of " The 
Hornet" captures "The Peacock" off South America; is pro- 
moted to the command of the frigate " Chesapeake," and falls 
mortally wounded in an engagement with " The Shannon " in 
Boston harbor. His last command was, *' Don't give up the 
Bhip I " Lieut. Perry wins a victory at Lake Erie ; his battlo-flag 
being, "Don't give up the ship!" Col. Johnson, under Harri- 
son, kills Tecumseh. Col. Lewis Cass garrisons Detroit. Gen. 
Andrew Jackson defends New Orleans. Commodore Chauncy 



Madisofi's Administration. 69 

and Lieut. Scott attack Toronto, and obtain the control of Lake 
Ontario. Gen. McClure indiscreetly destroys Fort George, and 
fires the village of Newark; and, December, 1813, Gen. Prevost 
retaliates, and bums every house reached on both Lakes. June, 
1813. — The entire American coast Is blockaded by British ships; 
and Tennessee and Georgia are disturbed by the Creeks, Chero- 
kees, and Choctaws. Forsyth of Georgia, Gaston of North 
Carolina, McLean of Ohio, and Daniel Webster, are elected to 
Congress. New England opposes the war. The Massachusetts 
Legislature remonstrates against it. July, 1814. —A midnight bat- 
tle is fought at Lundy's Lane, and Col. Winfield Scott is wounded. 
Sept. 11 occurred the battle of Lake Champlain. The British fleet 
enters Chesapeake Bay. Washington, Baltimore, and Annapolis 
are threatened. Gen. Ross moves to Bladensburg, where a mem- 
orable battle is fought, and from th-^'nce to Washington : and the 
Capitol, Congressional Library, and other public buildings, are 
destroyed by fire. Gen, Ross is killed on the Chesapeake, near 
Baltimore. The song of the '" Star-spangled Banner" was com- 
posed by Francis Key during the attack on Fort McHenry. 
Marauding expeditions line the coast from Eastport to Sandy 
Hook. Hartford Convention, Dec. 15, 1814. . Gen. Jackson seizes 
Pensacola, and wins the battle of New Orleans, Jan. 8, 1815. 
Meanwhile the peaoe signed at Ghent, December, 1814, is on the 
way from Europe. Unbounded excitement and joy throughout 
the land. A day of thanksgiving observed. War debt, $100,- 
000,000. National Bank organized, with a capital of $35,000,000 ; 
charter, twenty years. Currency redeemable with gold and 
silver. Algerine War. Robert Fulton propels a boat by steam. 
James Monroe elected President. 

1809. — March 4. "Indulging no passion^ 
which trespass on the rights or repose of othex* 



yo Madison's Administration, 

nations,' it has been the true glory of the United 
States to cultivate peace by observing justice, and 
to entitle themselves to the respect of the na- 
tions at war by fulfilling their neutral obligations 
with the most scrupulous impartiality. If there 
be candor in the world, the truth of these asser- 
tions will not be questioned. Posterity, at least, 
will do justice to them. This unexceptionable 
course could not avail against the injustice and 
violence of the belligerent powers. In their rage 
against each other, or impelled by more direct 
motives, principles of, retaliation have been intro- 
duced, equally contrary to universal reason and 
acknowledged law. How long their arbitrary 
edicts will be continued in spite of the demon- 
stration that not even a pretext for them has 
been given by the United States, and of the fair 
and liberal attempts to induce a revocation of 
them, cannot be anticipated. Assuring myself, 
that, under every vicissitude, the determined spirit 
and united counsels of the nation will be safe- 
guards to its honor and its essential interests, I 
repair to the post assigned me, with no other dis- 
couragement than wh^t springs frop? iny oyyn 



' Madison's Administration. yi 

inadequacy to its high duties. ... It is my good 
fortune to have the path in which I am to tread 
lighted by examples of illustrious services suc- 
cessfully rendered in the most trying difficulties 
by those who have marched before me. But the 
source to which I look for the aid which alone 
can supply my deficiencies is in the well-tried 
intelligence and virtue of my fellow-citizens, and 
in the counsels of those representing them in the 
other departments associated in the care of the 
national interests. In- these my confidence will, 
under every difficulty, be best placed, next to 
that we have all been encouraged to feel in the 
guardianship and guidance of that Almighty Be- 
ing whose power regulates the destiny of nations, 
whose blessings have been so conspicuously dis- 
pensed to this rising republic, and to 'Avhom we 
are bound to address our devout gratitude for the 
past, as well as our fervent supplications and best 
hopes for the future." 

1809. —May 23. To both houses of Congress : 
" On this first occasion of meeting you, it aifords 
me much satisfaction to be able to communicate 
the commencement of a favorable change in our 



72 Madison's Administration. ^ 

foreign relations, the critical state of which in- 
duced a session of Congress at this early period. 
The revision of our commercial laws, proper to 
adapt them to the arrangement which has taken 
place with Great Britain, will doubtless engage 
the early attention of Congress. Under the ex- 
isting aspect of affairs, I have thought it not in- 
consistent with a just precaution to have the gun- 
boats, with the exception of those at New Orleans, 
placed in a situation incurring no expense beyond 
that requisite for their preservation, arid con- 
venience for future service. ... I have thought, 
also, that our citizens, detached in quotas of mili- 
tia, might not improperly be relieved from the 
State in which they are held for immediate ser- 
vice. A discharge of them has accordingly been 
directed."- 

1§09. — Nov. 29. " At the period of our last 
meeting, I had the satisfaction of communicating 
an adjustment with one of the principal belliger- 
ent nations, highly important in itself, and still 
more so as presaging a more extended accommo- 
dation. It is with deep concern I am now to 
inform j^ou that the favorable prospect has been 



Madison's Administratio7t. J I 

overclouded by a refusal of the British Govern- 
ment to abide by the act of its minister-plenipo- 
tentiary, and by its ensuing policy towards the 
United States. 

"With France, the other belligerent, whose 
trespasses on our commercial rights have long 
been the subject of our just remonstrances, the- 
posture of our relations does not correspond with 
the measures taken on the part of the United 
States to effect a favorable change. In relation 
to the powers on the coast of Barbary, nothing 
has occurred which is not of a nature rather to 
inspire confidence than distrust as to the contin- 
uance of the existing amity. With our Indian 
neighbors, the just and benevoleitt system contin- 
ued towards them has also preserved peace, and is 
more and more advancing habits favorable to their 
civilization and happiness. 

" The fortifications on our maritime frontiers are 
in many of the ports completed. By the enlarge- 
ment of the works, and the employment of a great 
number of hands at the public armories, the supply 
of small arms appears to be annually increasing 
at a rate that may be expected to go far towards 



74 Madison's Adininisiration. 

providing for the public exigency. The sums 
which had been previously accumulated in the 
treasury, together with the receipts during the 
year ending Sept. 30 (amounting to more than 
nine millions of dollars), have enabled us to fulfil 
all our engagements, and to defray the current 
expenses of government, without recurring to any 
loan. In the state which has been presented of 
our affairs with the great parties of a disastrous 
war, carried on in a mode equally injurious and 
unjust to the United States as a neutral nation, 
the wisdom of the National Legislature will be 
again summoned to the important decision on the 
alternatives before them. That these will be met 
in a spirit worthy the counsels of a nation con- 
scious both of its rectitude and of its rights, and 
careful as well of its honor as of its peace, I have 
an entire confidence. 

" In the midst of the wrongs and vexations ex- 
perienced from external causes, there is much 
room for congratulation on the prosperity and 
happiness flowing from our situation at home. 
The blessing of health has never been more 
universal. . . . Nor is it unworthy of reflection, 



Madison's Administration. 75 

that this revolution in our pursuits and habits is 
in no slight degree a consequence of those im- 
politic and arbitrary edicts by which the contend- 
ing nations, in endeavoring, each of them, to 
abstract our trade with the other, have so far 
abridged our means of procuring the productions 
and manufactures of which our own are now tak- 
ing the place. Eecollecting always, that, for every 
advantage which may contribute to distinguish 
our lot from that to which others are doomed by 
the unhappy spirit of the times, we are indebted 
to that Divine Providence whose goodness has 
been so remarkably extended to this rising nation, 
it becomes us to cherish a devout gratitude, and to 
implore from the same omnipotent source a bless- 
ing on the consultations and measures about to be 
undertaken for the welfare of our belcJved country." 
1810. — Dec. 5. "Among the commercial 
abuses still committed under the American flag, 
and leaving in. force my former reference to that 
■ subject, it appears that American citizens iire 
instrumental in carrying on a traffic in enslaved 
Africans, equally in violation of the laws of 
humanity, and in defiance* of those of their own 



'j6 Madison's Administration. 

country. The same just and benevolent motives 
which produced the interdiction in force against 
this criminal conduct will doubtless be felt by 
Congress in devising further means of suppress- 
ing the evil. 

^' Tlie receipts into the treasury during the year 
ending Sept. 30 last (and amounting to more 
than eight million and a half of dollars) have 
exceeded the current expenses of the government, 
including the interest on the public debt." 

1811. — Nov. 5. *^In calling you together 
sooner than a separation from your home would 
otherwise have required, I jnelded to considera- 
tions drawn from the posture of our foreign 
affairs. Indemnity and redress for wrongs have 
continued to be withheld ; and our coasts, and the 
mouths of our harbors, have again witnessed 
scenes not less derogatory to the dearest of our 
national rights than vexatious to the regular 
course of our trade. Among the occurrences pro- 
duced . by the conduct of British ships of war 
hovering on.our coasts was an encounter between 
one of them and the American frigate com- 
manded by Capt. Rodgers, rendered unavoidable 



Madison's Admhustration. yy 

on the part of the hitter, by a fire, commenced 
without cause, by the former ; whose commander 
is, therefore, alone chargeable with the blood un- 
fortunately shed in maintaining the honor of the 
American flag. . . .In addition, the United 
States have much reason to be dissatisfied with 
the rigorous and unexpected restrictions to which 
their trade with the French dominions lias been 
subjected, and which, if not discontinued, will 
require at least corresponding restrictions on im- 
portations from France into the United States. . . . 
Our other foreign relations remain without un- 
favorable changes. With E,ussia they are on the 
best footing of friendship. The ports of Sweden 
liave afforded proofs of friendly disposition towards 
our commerce in the counsels of that nation also ; 
and the information from our special minister to 
Denmark shows that the mission has been at- 
tended with valuable effects to our citizens, whose 
property had been so extensively violated and en- 
dangered by cruisers under the Danish flag. 

" The receipts into the treasury, during the year 
ending Sept. 30 last, have exceeded thirteen 
millions and a half of dollars, and have enabled 



78 Madiso7i's Admmistration. 

us to defray the current expenses, including the 
interest on the public debt, and to re-imburse 
more than five millions of dollars of the principal 
without recurring to the loan authorized by the 
act of the last session." 

1812. — Nov. 4. " On our present meeting, it 
is my first duty to invite your attention to the 
providential favors, which our country has ex- 
perienced in the unusual degree of health dis- 
pensed to its inhabitants, and in the rich 
abundance with which the earth has rewarded 
the labors bestowed upon it. In the successful 
cultivation of other branches of industry, and in 
the progress of general improvement favorable to 
the national prosperity, there is just occasion, also, 
for our mutual congratulations and thankfulness. 
•With these blessings are necessarily mingled the 
pressures and vicissitudes incident to the state of 
war into which the United States have been 
forced by the perseverance of a foreign power in 
its system of injustice and aggression. . . . Our 
expectation of gaining the command of the Lakes 
by the invasion of Canada from Detroit having 
been disappointed, measures were instantly taken 



Madison's Administration 79 

to provide for them a naval force superior to that 
of the enemy, . . . On the coasts and on the 
ocean, the war has been as successful as circum- 
stances inseparable from its early stages could 
promise. In the instances in which skill and 
bravery were more particularly tried, the Ameri- 
can fla'g had an auspicious triumph. Anxious to. 
abridge the evils from which a state of war cannot 
be exempt, I lost no time, after it was declared, in 
conveying to the British Government the terms on 
which its progress might be arrested. The ad- 
vance was declined, from an avowed repugnance 
to a suspension of the practice of impressment 
during the armistice, and without any intimation 
that the arrangement proposed with respect to 
seamen would be accepted. The Indian tribes 
not under foreign instigations remain at peace, 
and receive the civilizing attentions which have 
proved so beneficial to them." 

1813. — March 4. Extracts from Inaugural 
Address : " The war with a powerful nation, 
which forms so prominent a feature in our situa- 
tion, is stamped with that justice which invites the 
smiles of Heaven on the means of conducting it 



So Madiso7t's Ad77iinistration. 

to a successful termination. It was not declared 
on the part of the United States until it had been 
long made on them in reality, though not in 
name; until arguments and expostulations had 
been exhausted; until a positive declaration had 
been received, that the wrongs provoking it would 
not be discontinued; nor until this appeal could 
no longer be delayed without breaking down 
the spirit of the nation, destroying all confidence 
in itself and in its political institutions, and' 
either perpetuating a state of disgraceful suf- 
fering, or regaining by more costly sacrifices 
and more severe struggles our lost rank and re- 
spect among independent powers. On the issue 
of the war are staked our national sovereignty on 
the high seas, and the security of an important 
class of citizens, whose occupations give the 
proper value to those of every other class. I need 
not call into view the unlawfulness of the practice 
by which our mariners are forced, at the will of 
every cruising officer, from their own vessels into 
foreign ones, nor paint the outrages inseparable 
from it. The proofs are in the records of each 
successive administration of our government, and 



Madison's Administration. 8i 

the cruel sufferings of that portion of the Ameri- 
can people have found their way to every bosom 
not dead to the sympathies of human nature. As 
the war was just in its origin, and necessary and 
noble in its objects, we can reflect with a proud 
satisfaction, that, in carrying it on, no principle 
of justice or honor, no usage of civilized nations, 
no precept of courtesy or humanity, has been in- 
fringed. How little has been the effect of this 
example on the conduct of the enemy ! They 
have retained as prisoners of war citizens of the 
United States not liable to be so considered under 
the usages of war. They have refused to con- 
sider as prisoners of war, and threatened to pun- 
ish as traitors and deserters, persons emigrating 
without restraint to the United States, incorpo- 
rated by naturalization into our political family, 
and fighting under the authority of their adopt- 
ed country in open and honorable war for the. 
maintenance of its rights and safety. Such is 
the avowed purpose of a government which is in 
the practice of naturalizing by thousands citizens 
of other countries, and not only of permitting, 
but compelling, them to fight its battles against 



82 Madison s Admitiistration. 

their native country. They have not, it is true, 
taken into their own hands the hatchet and the 
knife, devoted to indiscriminate massacre ; but 
they have let loose the savages armed with " these 
cruel instruments, have allured them into their 
service, and carried them to battle by their sides, 
eager to glut their savage- thirst with the blood of 
the vanquished, and to finish the work of torture 
and death on maimed and defenceless captives. 
And, what was never before seen, British com- 
manders have extorted victory over the uncon- 
querable valor of our troops ly presenting, to the 
sympathy of their chief, captives awaiting mas- 
sacre from their savage associates ; and now we 
find them, in further contempt of the modes of 
honorable warfare, supplying the place of a con- 
quering force by attempts to disorganize our 
political society, to dismember our confederate 
republic." 

1813. — Dec. 7. "In meeting j^ou at the 
present interesting conjuncture, it would have 
been highly satisfactfery if I could have commu- 
nicated a favorable result to the -mission charged 
with negotiations for restoring peace. The British 



Madison's Administration. ^i 

cabinet, either mistaking our desire of peace for a 
dread of British power, or misled by other falla- 
cious calculations, has disappointed this reasonable 
anticipation. The mediation was declined on the 
first instance ; and there is no evidence, notwith- 
standing the lapse of time, that a change of dis- 
position in the British counsels has taken place, 
or is to be expected. Under such circumstances, a 
nation proud of its rights, and conscious of its 
strength, has no choice but an exertion of the one 
in support of the other. To this determination, 
the best encouragement is derived from the success 
with which it has pleased the Almighty to bless 
our arms both on the land and on the water. 
The views of the French Government on the sub- 
jects which have been so long committed to ne- 
gotiation have received no elucidation since the 
close of your last session. The war, with all its 
vicissitudes, is illustrating the capacity and the 
destiny of the United States to be a great, a 
flourishing, and a powerful nation, worthy of the 
friendship which it is disposed to cultivate with all 
others, and authorized by its own example to re- 
quire from all an observance of the laws of justice 



$4 Madison's Administration. 

and reciprocity. Beyond these their claims have 
never extended ; and, in contending for these, we 
behold a subject for our congratulations in the 
daily testimonies of increasing harmony through- 
out the nation, and may humbly repose our trust 
in the smiles of Heaven on so righteous a course." 
1814. — Sept. 20. " It is not to be disguised 
that the situation of our country calls for its 
greatest efforts. Our enemy is powerful in men 
and money, on the land and on the water. 
Availing himself of fortuitous advantages, he is 
aiming with his undivided force a deadly blow at 
our growing prosperity, — perhaps at our national 
existence. He has avowed his purpose of tram- 
pling on the usages of civilized warfare, and given 
earnests of it in the plunder and wanton destruc- 
tion of private property. In his pride of mari- 
time dominion, and in his thirst of • commercial 
monopoly, he strikes with peculiar animosity at 
the progress of our navigation and our manufac- 
tures. His barbarous policy has not even spared 
those monuments of the arts and models of taste 
with which our country had enriched and em- 
bellished its infant metropolis. From such an 



Madis07i's Administration. 85 

adversary, hostility in its greatest force and in its 
worst forms may be looked for. The American 
people will face it with the undaunted spirit, 
which, in their Revolutionary struggle, defeated his 
unrighteous projects. His threats and his bar- 
barities, instead of dismay, will kindle in every 
bosom an indignation not to be extinguished but 
in the disaster and expulsion of such cruel invad- 
ers. In providing the means necessary, the Na- 
tional Legislature will not distrust the heroic and 
enlightened patriotism of its constituents. They 
will cheerfully and proudly bear every burden of 
every kind which the safety and honor of the 
nation demand. We have seen them everywhere 
paying their taxes, direct and indirect, with the 
greatest promptness and alacrit3\ We see them 
rushing with enthusiasm to the scenes where 
danger and duty call. In offering their blood, 
they give the surest pledge that no other tribute 
will be withheld. Having forborne to declare war 
until to other aggressions had been added the. cap- 
ture of nearly a thousand American vessels and 
the impressment of thousands of American sea- 
faring citizens, and until a final declaration had 



S6 Madison's Administration. 

been made by the government of Great Britain 
that her hostile orders agaiiist our commerce- 
would not be revoked but on conditions as impos- 
sible as unjust, whilst it was known that these 
orders would not otherwise cease but with a war 
which had lasted nearly twenty years, and which, 
according to appearances at that time, might last 
as many more ; having manifested on every occa- 
sion, and in every proper mode, a sincere desire to 
arrest the effusion of blood, and meet our enemy 
on the ground of justice and reconciliation, — our 
beloved country, in still opposing to his persever- 
ing hostility all its energies with an undiminished 
disposition toward peace and friendship on honor- 
able terms, must carry with it the good wishes of 
the impartial world, and the best hopes of support 
from an omnipotent and kind Providence." 

1815. — Feb. 18. Five months later, the 
President addresses Congress as follows : " I lay 
before Congress copies of the treaty of peace and 
amity between the United States and his Britannic 
Majesty which was signed by the commissioners 
of both parties at Ghent on the 24th December, 
1814, and the ratifications of which have been 



Madison s Administration. 87 

duly exclianged. While performing this act, I 
congratulate you and our constituents upon an 
event which is highly honorable to the nation, and 
terminates with peculiar felicity a campaign sig- 
nalized by the most brilliant successes. Peace, 
at all times a blessing, is peculiarly welcome at 
a period when the causes for the war have ceased 
to operate ; when the government has demonstrat- 
ed the efficiency of its powers of defence; and 
when the nation can review its conduct without 
regret and without reproach. I recommend to 
your care and beneficence the gallant men whose 
achievements in every department of the military 
service, on the land and on the ivater, have so 
essentially contributed to the honor of the Ameri- 
can name and to the restoration of peace. The 
feelings of conscious patriotism and ivorth ivill 
animate such men under every change of fortune 
and pursuit ; but their country performs a duty to 
itself when it bestows those testimonials of appro- 
bation and applause which are at once the re- 
ward of and the incentive to great actions. . . . 
The termination of the legislative sessions will soon 
separate you, fellow-citizens, from each other, and 



8S Madiso7is Administration, 

restore you to your constituents. I pray you to 
bear with you the expressions of my sanguine 
hope, that the peace which has been just declared 
will not only be the foundation of the most 
friendly intercourse between the United States 
and Great Britain, but that it will also be pro- 
ductive of happiness and harmony in every section 
of our beloved country. The influence of your 
precepts and example must be everywhere power- 
ful ; and, while we accord in grateful acknowl- 
edgments for the protection wiiich Providence 
has bestowed upon us, let us never cease to incul- 
cate obedience to the laws, .and fidelity to the 
Union, as constituting the palladium of the 
national independence and prosperity." 

1815. — Dec. 5. " I have the satisfaction, on 
our present meeting, of being able to communicate 
to you the successful termination of the war which 
had been commenced against the United States by 
the regency of Algiers. It is another source of 
satisfaction that the treaty with Great Britain has 
been succeeded by a convention on the subject of 
commerce, concluded by the plenipotentiaries of 
the two countries. The national debt, as it was 



Madison s Administration. 89 

ascertained on the 1st of October last, amounted 
in the whole to the sum of a hundred and twenty 
millions of dollars, consisting of the unredeemed 
balance of the debt contracted before the late war 
(thirty-nine millions of dollars), the amount of the 
funded debt contracted in consequence of the war 
(sixty-four millions of dollars), and the amount of 
the unfunded and floating debt (including the 
various issues of treasury-notes), seventeen millions 
of dollars, which is in a gradual course of pay- 
ment. The improved conditiou of the public 
revenue will not only afford the means of main- 
taining the faith of the government with its 
creditors inviolate, and of prosecuting success- 
fuTly the measures of the most liberal policy, but 
will also justify an immediate alleviation of the 
burdens imposed by the necessities of war. 
Among the means of advancing the public inter- 
est, the occasion is a proper one for recalling the 
attention of Congress to the great importance of 
establishing throughout our country the roads and 
canals which can best be executed under the 
■ national authority. No objects within the circle 
of political economy so richly repay the expense 



90 Madison s Administration. 

bestowed on tliem. The present is a favorable 
season, also, for bringing into view the establish- 
ment of a national seminary of learning within 
the District of Columbia. 

" In closing this communication, I ought not to 
repress a sensibility, in which you will unite, to 
the happy lot of our country, and the goodness of 
a superintending Providence to which we are in- 
debted for it. Whilst otlier portions of mankind 
are laboring under the distresses of war, or strug- 
gling with adversity in otlier forms, the United 
States are in the tranquil enjoyment of prosperous 
and honorable peace. In reviewing the scenes 
through wdiich it has been attained, we can re- 
joice in the proofs given that our political institu- 
tions — founded in human rights, and framed for 
their preservation — are equal to the severest trials 
of war, as well as adapted to the ordinary periods 
of repose. As fruits of this experience, and of the 
reputation acquired by the American arms on the 
land and on the water, the nation finds itself 
possessed of a growing respect abroad, aYid of a 
just confidence in itself, which are among the best 
pledges for its peaceful career. Under other 



Madison's Administration. 91 

aspects of our country, tlie strongest features of 
its flourishing condition are seen in a population 
rapidly increasing on a territory as productive 
as it is extensive ; in a general industry and fertile 
ingenuity, which find their ample rewards ; and 
in an affluent revenue, which admits a reduction 
of the public burdens without withdrawing the 
means of sustaining the public creait, of gradually 
discharging the public debt, of providing for the 
necessary defensive and precautionary establish- 
ments, and of patronizing, in ever}'' authorized 
mode, undertakings conducive to the aggregate 
wealth and individual comfort of our citizens," 

1816. — Dec. 3. ^'Amidst the advantages 
which have succeeded tlie peace of Europe and 
that of the United States with Great Britain, in a 
general invigoration of industry among us, and in 
the extension of commeice, it is to be regretted 
that a depression is experienced by particular 
branches of our manufactures, and by a portion 
of our navigation. As the first proceedo, in an 
essential degree, from an excess of imported 
merchandise, which carries a check in its own 
tendency, the cause, in its present extent, cannot 



92- Madison's Administi'ation. 

be of very long duration. The evil will not, how- 
ever, be viewed by Congress without a recollec- 
tion that manufacturing establishments, if suffered 
to sink too low or languish too long, may not 
revive after the causes shall have ceased; and 
that, in the vicissitudes of human affairs, situa- 
tions may recur in which a dependence on foreign 
sources for indispensable supplies may be among 
the most serious embarrassments. The depressed 
state of our navigation is to be ascribed in a mate- 
rial degree to its exclusion from the colonial ports 
of the nation most extensively connected with us in 
commerce, and from the indirect operation of that 
exclusion. ... I have the satisfaction to state, 
generally, that we remain in amity with foreign 
powers. An occurrence has indeed taken place 
in the Gulf of Mexico, which, if sanctioned by the 
Spanish Government, mivj'^ make an exception as 
to that power. The posture of our affairs with 
Algiers at the present moment is not known : 
with the other Barbary States our affairs have 
undergone no change. The Indian tribes within 
our limits appear also to remain at peace. . . . Con- 
gress will call to mind that no adequate provision 



Madison's Administration. 93 

has yet been made for the uniformity of weights 
and measures also contemplated by the Constitu- 
tion. The great utility of a standard fixed in its 
nature, and founded on the easy rule of decimal 
proportions, is sufficiently obvious. It led the 
government at an early stage to preparatory steps 
for introducing it ; and a completion of the work 
will be a just title to the public gratitude. . . . The 
United States having been the first to abolish, 
within the extent of their authority, the transpor- 
tation of the natives of Africa into slavery, by 
prohibiting the introduction of slaves, and by 
punishing their citizens participating in the 
traffic, cannot but be gratified at the progress 
made by concurrent efforts of other nations to- 
wards a general suppression of so great an evil. . . . 
In directing the legislative attention to the state 
of the finances, it is a subject of great gratifica- 
tion to find, that, even within the short period 
which has elapsed since the return of peace, the 
revenue has far exceeded all the current demands 
upon the treasury ; and that, under any probable 
diminution of its future annual products which 
the vicissitudes of commerce may occasion, it will 



94 Madison's Admljiistration. 

afford an ample fund for the effectual and early 
extinguishment of the public debt. The aggre- 
gate of the funded debt, composed of debts in- 
curred during the wars of 1776 and 1812, has been 
estimated, with reference to January next, at a 
sum not exceeding a hundred and ten millions of 
dollars. The Bank of the United States has been 
organized under auspices .the most favorable, and 
cannot fail to be an important auxiliary in finan- 
cial matters. . . . The period of my retiring from 
the public service being at a little distance, I shall 
find no occasion more proper than the present for 
expressing to my fellow-citizens my deep sense of 
the continued confidence and kind support which 
I have received from them. My grateful recol- 
lections of these distinguished marks of their fa- 
vorable regard can never cease, and, with the 
consciousness, that, if I have not served my 
country with great ability, I have served it with a 
sincere devotion, will accompany me as a source 
of unfailing gratification. ... I can indulge the 
proud reflection, that the American people have 
reached in safety and success the fortieth year as 
an independent nation. , , , Nor is it less a 



Madison's Administration. 95 

peculiar felicity of tliis Constitution, so dear to us 
all, that it is found to be capable, without losing 
its vital energies, of expanding itself over a 
spacious territory, with the increase and expan- 
sion of the community for whose benefit it was 
established. "James Madisox." 



MONEOE'S ADimiSTEATION. 

1817 TO 1825. 



97 



THE CABINET. 



PRESIDENT: 

JAMES MONROE, Virginia, 

VICE-PRESIDENT: 
DANIEL D. TOMPKINS, New York. 

SECRETARY OF STATE: 
1817. — John Quincy Adams, Massachusetts. 

SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY: 
1817. — William H. Crawford, Georgia. 

SECRETARIES OF WAR: 

1817. — Isaac Shelby, Kentucky (declined). 
1817. — John C. Calhoun, South Carolina. 

SECRETARIES OF THE NAVY: 

1817. — Benjamin W. Crowninshield, Massachusetts, 

i8i8. — Smith Thompson, New York. 

1823. — Samuel L. Southard, New Jersey. 

POSTMASTERS-GENERAL: 

1817, — R. J. Meigs, Ohio. 
1823. — John McLean, Ohio. 

ATTORNEY-GENERAL : 

1817. — William Wirt, Virginia. 



CONTEMPORANEOUS ENGLISH HISTORY. 

George III. (Regency) and George IV. 

Lord Liverpool, Prime-Minister, 1812 to 1827. 

Suspension of the Habeas-Corpus Act in February and June, 1817, 

and August, 1822. 
Death of George IIL, January, 1820. 
Great prosperity in 1823 and 1824. 
Monetary crisis in 1825. 



JAMES MONROE. 



From — March 4, 1817, to 1825. 

Duration. —Two terras, —eight years. 

Party. — Republican (State-rights). 

Principal Events. —Eastern States visited by the President: 
"Federal Boston" calls him a Federalist. Party differences 
gradually subsiding. Washington's revenue and foreign policy 
generally adopted. Colonization Society organized : Henry Clay 
and John Randolph vote for it. Seminole War, 1817. Gen. 
Jackson marches into Florida, and Pensacola is taken. Treaty 
with Spain, and cossion of Florida to the United States, in 1821, for 
five million dollars and our claims to Texas. Financial embar- 
rassments, Webster favors free trade. ('• Let us not suppose 
that we are beginning the protection of manufactures by duties 
on imports, , . . Suppose all nations to act upon this principle, 
they would be prosperous, then, according to the argument, pre- 
cisely in the proportion in which they abolished intercourse with 
one another.") Henry Clay favors protection, A protective tariff 
is passed, and manufacturers are greatly encouraged. Country 
agitated for two years, 1820 and 1821, on the slavery question. 
Union threatened. Fourteen thousand slaves smuggled into the 
United States from Africa and the West Indies, The Monroe 
Doctrine advanced Dec. 2, 1823 (see Mes.'^age), Mississippi, Illi- 
nois, Alabama, Maine, and Missouri added to the Union, — the 
latter in August, 1821, under the Missouri Compromise; slavery 
to be excluded from all territory west of the Mississippi, north 

99 

LOFC. 



100 Monroe s Administration. 

of 36° 30'. Gen. Lafayette revisits the United States in 1824, and 
returns to France in 1825. Whole administration designated the 
" era of good feeling." John Quincy Adams elected President. 

1817. — March 4. "It is particularly grati- 
fying to me to enter on the discharge of my 
duties at a time when the United States are 
blessed with peace. It is a state most consistent 
with their prosperity and happiness. It will be my 
sincere desire to preserve it, so far as depends on 
the Executive, on just principles, with all nations j 
claiming nothing unreasonable of any, and ren- 
dering to each what is its due. Equally gratify- 
ing is it to witness the increased harmony of 
opinion which pervades our Union. Discord does 
not belong to our system. Union is recommended 
as well by the free and benign principles of our 
government, extending its blessings to every 
individual, as by the other eminent advantages 
attending it. The American people have encoun- 
tered together great dangers, and sustained severe 
trials with success. They constitute one great 
family with a common interest. Experience has 
enlightened us on some questions of essential impor- 
tance to the country. . . . Never did a government 



Monroe's Administration. loi 

commence under auspices so favorablcj nor ever 
was success so complete. If we look to the his- 
tory of other nations, ancient and modern, we 
find no example of a growth so rapid, so gigantic, 
of a people so prosperous and happy. In contem- 
plating what we. have still to perform, the heart 
of every citizen must expand with joy when he 
reflects how near our government has approached 
to perfection ; that, in respect to it, we have no 
essential improvement to make ; that the great 
object is to preserve it in the essential principles 
and features which characterize it ; and that it is 
to be done by preserving the virtue and enlight- 
ening the minds of the people ; and, as a security 
against foreign dangers, to adopt such arrange- 
ments as are indispensable to the support of our 
independence, our rights and liberties. If we 
persevere in the career in which we have ad- 
vanced so far, and in the path already traced, we 
cannot fail, by the favor of a gracious Providence, 
to attain the high destiny which seems to await 
us. In the administrations of the illustrious men 
who have preceded me in this high station, with 
some of whom I have been connected by the 



102 Monroe's Administration. 

closest ties from early life " (four of the first five 
presidents of the United States — Washington, 
Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe — were from Vir- 
ginia), " examples are presented which will always 
be found highly instructive and useful to their 
successors. From these I shall endeavor to de- 
rive all the advantages which they may afford. . . . 
Kelying on the aid to be derived from the other 
departments of the government, I enter on the 
trust to which I have been called by the suffrages 
of my fellow-citizens, with my fervent prayers to 
the Almighty that he will be graciously pleased to 
continue to us that protection which he has al- 
ready so conspicuously displayed in our favor." 

1817. — Dec. 2. "In contemplating the 
happy situation of the United States, our atten- 
tion is drawn, with peculiar interest, to the sur- 
viving officers and soldiers of our Revolutionary 
army, who so eminently contributed by their ser- 
vices to lay its foundation. Most of those very 
meritorious citizens have paid the debt of nature, 
and gone to repose. It is believed, that, among 
the sur^dvors, there are some, not provided for by 
existing laws, who are reduced to indigence, and 



Monroe^ s Administration. 103 

even to real distress. These men have a claim on 
the gratitude of their country, and it will do 
honor to their country to provide for them. The 
lapse of a few years more, and the opportunity will 
be forever lost. . . . Respecting taxes, I consider it 
my duty to recommend to Congress their repeal. 
To impose taxes when tlie public exigencies require 
them is an obligation of the most sacred charac- 
ter, especially with a free people. The faithful 
fulfilment of it is among the highest proofs of 
their virtue, and capiacity for self-government. To 
dispense with taxes, when it may be done with 
perfect safety, is equally the duty of their repre- 
sentatives." 

1818. — Nov. 17. ^'In authorizing Major- 
Gen. Jackson to enter Florida in pursuit of the 
Seminoles, care was taken not to encroach on the 
rights of Spain. I regret to have to add, that, in 
executing this order, facts were disclosed respect- 
ing the conduct of the officers of Spain in 
authority there, in encouraging the war, furnish- 
ing munitions of war, and other supplies to carry 
it on, and in other acts not less marked, which 
evinced their participation in the hostile purposes 



I04 Monroe's Administration. 

of that combination, and justified the confidence 
with which it inspired the savages, that by those 
officers they would be protected. . . . The civil 
war which has so long prevailed between Spain 
and the provinces in South America still con- 
tinues, without any prospect of its speedy termi- 
nation. . . . Our relations with France, E-ussia, 
and other powers, continue on the most friendly 
basis." 

1819. — Dec. 7. "Although the pecuniary 
embarrassments which affected various parts of 
the Union during the latter part of the preceding 
year, have, during the present, been considerably 
augmented, and still continue to exist, the receipts 
into the treasury, to the 30th of September last, 
have amounted to nineteen millions of dollars. 
After defraying the current expenses of the 
government, including the interest and re-imburse- 
ment of the public debt payable to that period, 
amounting to eighteen million two hundred 
thousand dollars, there remained in the treasur}^ 
on that day more than two million five hundred 
thousand dollars, which, with the sums receivable 
during the remainder of the year, will exceed the 



Monroe's Administration, 105 

current demands upon the treasury for tlie same 
period." 

1320. — Nov. 14. "On the 30th of Septem- 
ber, 1815, the funded and floating debt of the 
United States was estimated at a hundred and 
nineteen millions six hundred aijd thirty-live thou- 
sand dollars. If to this sum be added the amount 
of five per cent stock subscribed to the Bank of 
the United States, the amount of the Mississippi 
stock, and of the stock which was issued subse- 
quently to that date, the balances ascertained to 
be due to certain States for military services, and 
to individuals for supplies furnished and services 
rendered during the late war, the public debt n^y 
be estimated as amounting at that date, and as 
afterwards liquidated, to a hundred and fifty- 
eight millions seven hundred and thirteen thou- 
sand dollars. On the 30th September, 1820, it 
amounted to ninety-one millions nine hundred and 
ninety-three thousand dollars; having been re- 
duced in that interval, by payments, sixty-six 
millions of dollars. . . . The direct tax and excise 
were repealed soon after the termination of the 
late war ; and the revenue has been derived almost 
wholly from other sources." 



io6 Monroe's Administration. 

1831. — March 4. "It is now rather more 
than forty-four years since we declared our inde- 
pendence, and thirty-seven since it was acknowl- 
edged. The talents and virtues which were 
displayed in that great struggle were a sure 
presage of all that has since followed. A people 
who were able to surmount in their infant state 
such great perils, would be more competent, as 
they rose into manhood, to repel any which they 
might meet in their progress. ... In this great 
nation there is but one order, that of the people, 
whose power, by a peculiarly happy improvement 
of the representative principle, is transferred from 
tliism without impairing in the slightest degree 
their sovereignty to bodies of their own creation, 
and to persons elected by themselves, in the full 
extent necessary, for all the purposes of free, en- 
lightened, and efficient government. The whole 
system is elective, the complete sovereignty being 
in the people, and every officer, in every depart- 
ment, deriving his authority from and being re- 
sponsible to them for his conduct. . . . With full 
confidence in the continuance of that candor and 
generous indulgence from my fellow-citizens at 



Monroe's Administration. 10/ 

large which I have heretofore experienced, and 
with a firm reliance on the protection of Almighty 
God, I shall forthwith commence the duties of the 
high trust to which you have again called me." 

1821. — Dec. 3. "With Spain, the treaty of 
Feb. 22, 1819, has been partly carried into execu- 
tion. . . . Possession of East and West Florida 
has been giv^en to the United States. Both prov- 
inces were formed into one territory, and a gov- 
ernor appointed for it. Two secretaries were 
appointed ; the one to reside at Pensacola, and the 
other at St. Augustine." 

1822. — Dec. 3. " The United States owe to 
the world a great example, and, by mean's thereof, 
to the cause of liberty and humanity a generous 
support. They have so far succeeded to the satis- 
faction of the virtuous and enlightened of every 
country. There is no reason to doubt that their 
whole movement will be regulated by a sacred 
regard to principle ; all our institutions being 
founded on that basis. It has been often charged 
against free governments, that they have neitlier 
the foresight nor the virtue to provide at the 
proper season for great emergencies; that their 



io8 Motiroe's Administration. 

course is improvident and expensive ; that war will 
always find tliera unprepared ; and, whatever may 
be its calamities, that its terrible warnings will be 
disregarded and forgotten as soon as peace returns. 
I have full confidence that this charge, so far as 
relates to the United States, will be shown to be 
utterly destitute of truth." 

1833. — Dec. 2. "It appearing, from long 
experience, that no satisfactory arrangement could 
be formed of the commercial intercourse between 
the United States and the British Colonies in this 
hemisphere, by legislative acts, while each party 
pursued its own course, without agreement or 
concert with the other, a proposal has been made 
to the British Government to regulate this com- 
merce by treaty. . . . 

" The usual orders have been given to all our 
public ships to seize American vessels engaged in 
the slave-trade, and bring them in for adjudica- 
tion ; and I have the gratification to state, that not 
one so employed has been discovered ; and there is 
good reason to believe that our flag is now seldom, 
if at all, disgraced by that traffic. . . . The sum 
which was appropriated at the last session for the 



Monroe's Admmistration. 109 

repairs of the Cumberland E-oad has been applied 
with good effect to that object. . . . Many patriotic 
and enlightened citizens have suggested an im- 
provement of still greater importance. They are 
of opinion the waters of the Chesapeake and Ohio 
may be connected together by one continued canal. 
. . . Connecting the Atlantic with the Western 
country in a line passing through the seat of the 
National Government, it would contribute essen- 
tially to strengthen the bond of union itself. 
Believing, as I do, that Congress possess the right 
to appropriate money for such a national object 
(the jurisdiction remaining to the States through 
which the canal would pass), I submit it to your 
consideration, whether it may not be advisable to 
authorize, by an adequate appropriation, the em- 
ployment of a suitable number of the officers of 
the corps of engineers to examine the unexplored 
ground during the next session, and to report 
their opinion thereon. It will likewise be proper 
to extend their examination to the several routes 
through which the waters of the Ohio may be 
connected by canals with those of Lake Erie. . . . 
The citizens of the United States cherish senti- 



no Monroe's Administration. 

ments the most friendly in favor of the liberty 
and happiness of their fellow-men on the other 
side of the Atlantic. In the wars of the Euro- 
pean powers in matters relating to themselves 
we have never taken any part, nor does it comport 
with our policy to do so. It is only when our 
rights are invaded, or seriously menaced, that we 
resent injuries, or make preparation for our de- 
fence. With the movements in this hemisphere 
we are, of necessity, more immediately connected, 
and by causes which must be obvious to all en- 
lightened and impartial observers. The political 
system of the allied powers is essentially different 
in this respect from that of America. This dif- 
ference proceeds from that which exists in their 
respective governments; and to the defence of 
•our own, which has been achieved by the loss of 
so much blood and treasure, and matured by the 
wisdom of our most enlightened citizens, and 
under which we have enjoyed unexampled felicitj'-, 
this whole nation is devoted. We owe it, there- 
fore, to candor, and to the amicable relations exist- 
ing between the United States and those powers, to 
declare that we should consider any attempt on their 



Monroe's Administration. ill 

part to extend their system to any portion of this 
hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. 
With the existing colonies, or dependencies, of any 
European power, we have not interfered, and shall 
not interfere; hut with the governments who 
have declared their independence and maintained 
it, and whose independence we have, on great 
consideration and on just principles, acknowledged, 
we could not view any interposition for the pur- 
pose of oppressing them, or controlling in any 
other manner their destiny, hy any European 
power, in any other light than as the manifesta- 
tion of an unfriendly disposition towards the 
United States." =* 

1824. — Dec. 7. The. last message of Mon- 
roe to Congress, after alluding to the continued 
growth and prosperity of the nation, the visit of 
Lafayette, &c., closes as follows : " I cannot con- 
clude this communication, the last of the kind 
which I shall have to make, without recollecting 
with great sensibility and heartfelt gratitude the 
many instances of the public confidence and the 

* *' The Monroe Doctrine," it is believed, was suggested by John 
Quincy Adams, Secretary of State under Monroe. 



112 Monroe's Administratioti, 

generous support which I have received from my 
fellow-citizens in the various trusts with which I 
have been honored. Having commenced my ser- 
vice in early youth, and continued it since, with 
few and short intervals, I have witnessed the great 
difficulties to which our Union has been exposed, 
and admired the virtue and courage with which 
they were surmounted. From the present pros- 
perous and happy state I derive a gratification 
which I cannot express. That these blessings 
may be preserved and perpetuated will be the 
object of my fervent and unceasing prayers to the 
Supreme Euler of the universe. 

"James Monroe.'^ 



J. Q. ADAMS'S ADiraSTEATION. 

1825 TO 1829. 



113 



THE CABINET. 



PRESIDENT: 

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, Massachusetts. 

VICE-PRESIDENT : 
JOHN C. CALHOUN, South Carolina. 

SECRETARY OF STATE: 
1825. — Henry Clay, Kentucky. 

SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY: 
1825. — Richard Rush, Pennsylvania. 

SECRETARIES OF WAR: 

1825. — James Barbour, Virginia. 
1828. — Peter B. Porter, New York. 

SECRETARY OF THE NAVY : 

1825. — Samuel L. Southard, New Jersey. 

POSTMASTER-GENERAL : 

1825. — John McLean, Ohio. 

ATTORNEY-GENERAL : 

1825. — William Wirt, Virginia. 



CONTEMPORANEOUS ENGLISH HISTORY. 

George IV., King of Enerland. 
Lord Liverpoo], Prime-Minister, 1812 to 1827. 
Mr. Canning, Lord Goderich, and the Duke of Wellington, to 1830. 
Great monetary crisis in 1825. 
Suspension of seventy banks in December. 
The Bank of England, with difficulty, weathers the storm. 
Sir Walter Scott's influence secures the circulation of small notes in 
Scotland. 

Independence of South- American States recognized. 
Death of Lord Liverpool, Dec. 4, 1828. 
114 



JOHN- QUINCY ADAMS. 



From — 1825 to 1829. 

Duration. — One term, — four years. 

Party. — llepublican. 

Principal Events. — Remarkable prosperity in agriculture, com- 
merce, and manufactures. Extensive internal improvements. 
Quincy Railway finished for the transportation of granite to the 
seashore. This was the first railroad built in the United States : 
locomotives afterwards introduced on the Hudson and Mohawk 
Railroad. Duel between Clay and Randolph, April 8, 1826; 
two shots and a reconciliation. Continued commercial pros- 
perity. Commerce and shipping gradually turning from Boston 
to New York. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson pass away on 
the same day; namely, July 4, 1826, — the fiftieth anniversary of 
American Independence. New party organized excluding Free 
Masons from office ; its failure. Erie Canal finished by the State 
of New York. Exciting Congressional discussions over the pro- 
tective tariff bill. New England, compelled to adopt it by the 
vote of the South during the Monroe administration, now refuses 
to change. Webster favors protection. Bitter party-spirit, re- 
sulting in the defeat of John Quincy Adams on his second nomi- 
nation. Election of G-en. Andrew Jackson. 

1835. — March 4. "In compliance with an 
usage co-eval with the existence of our Federal 

116 



Ii6 y- Q' Adams's Administration. 

Constitution, and sanctioned by the example of 
my predecessors in the career upon which I am 
about to enter, I appear, my fellow- citizens, in 
your presence and in that of Heaven, to bind 
myself by the solemnity of religious obligation 
to the faithful performance of the duties allotted 
to me in the situation to which I have been called. 
. . . Union, justice, tranquillity, the common de- 
fence, the general welfare, and the blessings of 
liberty, — all have been promoted by the govern- 
ment under which we have lived. ... If tliere have 
been projects of partial confederacies to be erected 
on the ruins of the Union, they have been scat- 
tered to the winds. . . . To tlie topic of internal 
improvements, emphatically urged by my prede- 
cessor at his inauguration, I recur with peculiar 
satisfaction. It is that from wliich I am con- 
vinced that the unborn millions of our posterity 
W'ho are in future ages to people this continent 
will derive their most fervent gratitude to the 
founders of the Union ; that in which the benefi- 
cent action of its government will be most deeply 
felt and acknowledged. The magnificence and 
splendor of their public works are among the im- 



J. Q. Adams's Administration. 117 

perishable glories of the ancient republics. The 
roads and aqueducts of Rome have been the ad- 
miration of all after-ages, and have survived thou- 
sands of years, — after all her'conquests have been 
swallowed up in despotism, or become the spoil of 
barbarians. Some diversity of opinion has pre- 
vailed with regard to the powers of Congress for 
legislation upon objects of this nature. The most 
respectful deference is due to doubts originating 
in pure patriotism, and sustained by venerated 
authority. But nearly twenty years have passed 
since the construction of the first national road 
was commenced. The authority for its construc- 
tion was then unquestioned. To how many thou- 
sands of our countrymen has it proved a benefit ! 
To what single individual has it ever proved an 
injury?" . . . 

1835. — Dec. 6. " Europe, with a few partial 
and unhappy exceptions, has enjoyed ten years of 
peace. . . . During the same period, our inter- 
course with all those nations has been pacific and 
friendly : it so continues. . . . The policy of the 
United States, in their commercial intercourse 
with other nations, has always been of the most 



Ii8 y- Q' Adams's Administration, 

liberal character. . . . Among the unequivocal in- 
dications of our national prosperity is the flourish- 
ing state of our finances. . . . Our relations with 
the numerous tribes of aboriginal natives of this 
country have been, during the present year, 
highly interesting. . . . The acts of Congress of 
the last session, relative to the surveying, marking, 
or laying-out roads in the Territories of Florida, 
Arkansas, and Michigan, from Missouri to Mexico, 
and for the continuation of the Cumberland Koad, 
are some of them fully executed, and others in the 
process of execution." . . . Eespecting the estab- 
lishment of an astronomical observatory he says, 
"It is with no feeling of pride as an American 
that the remark may be made, that, on the com- 
l^aratively small territorial surface of Europe, 
there are existing upwards of a hundred and 
thirty of these lighthouses of the skies ; while 
throughout the whole American hemisphere there 
is not one." . . . 

1836, — Dec. 9. "With the exceptions inci- 
dental to the most felicitous condition of human 
existence, we continue to be highly favored in all 
the elements which contribute to individual com- 



J' Q. Adams's. Administration. 119 

fort and to national prosperity. ... In our 
intercourse with the other nations of the earth, 
we have still the happiness of enjoying peace and 
a general good understanding. . . . By the de- 
cease of the Emperor Alexander of Russia, which 
occurred contemporaneously with the commence- 
ment of the last session of Congress, the United 
States have heen deprived of a long-tried, steady, 
and faithful friend." . . . 

1827. — Dec. 8. "Peace and prosperity pre- 
vail to a degree seldom experienced over the whole 
habitable globe ; presenting, though as yet with 
painful exceptions, a foretaste of that blessed period 
of promise, when the lion shall lie down with the 
lamb, and wars shall be no more. ... Our rela- 
tions of friendship with the other nations of the 
earth, political and commercial, have been pre- 
served unimpaired, and the opportunities to im- 
prove them have been cultivated with anxious and 
unremitting attention. ... In the American 
hemisphere, the cause of freedom and independ- 
ence has continued to prevail; and, if signalized 
by none of those splendid triumphs which had 
crowned with glory some of the preceding years, 



I20 y. Q. Adams's Administration. 

it has only been from the banishment of all ex- 
ternal force against which the struggle had been 
maintained. . . . The deep solicitude felt by our 
citizens of all classes throughout the Union for 
the total discharge of the public debt will apolo- 
gize for the earnestness with which I deem it my 
duty to urge this topic upon the consideration of 
Congress." 

1828. — Dec. 2. "If the enjoyment in pro- 
fusion of the bounties of Providence forms a 
suitable subject of mutual gratulation and grate- 
ful acknowledgment, we are admonished at this 
return of the season, when the representatives of 
the nation are assembled to deliberate upon their 
concerns, to offer up the tribute of fervent and 
grateful hearts for the never-failing mercies of 
Him who ruleth over all. He has again favored 
us with healthful seasons and abundant harvests. 
He has sustained us at peace with foreign coun- 
tries, and in tranquillity within our borders. He 
has preserved us in the quiet and undisturbed 
possession of civil and religious liberty. He has 
crowned the year with his goodness, imposing on 
us no other conditions than of improving for our 



y, Q. Adams's Administration. 121 

own happiness the blessings bestowed by his 
hands ; and, in the fruition of all his favors, of 
devoting the faculties with which we have been 
endowed by him to his glory and to our own 
temporal and eternal welfare." ... 

"John Quincy Adams." 



JACKSON'S ADMINISTEATION. 

1829 TO 1837. 



323 



THE CABINET. 



PRESIDENT: 

ANDREW JACKSON, Tennessee. 

VICE-PRESIDENTS: 
JOHN C. CALHOUN, South Carolina. 
MARTIN VAN BUREN, New York. 

SECRETARIES OF STATE : 
1829. — Martin Van Buren, New York. 
1831. — Edward Livingston, Louisiana. 

1833. — Louis McLane, Delaware. 

1834. — John Forsyth, Georgia. 

SECRETARIES OF THE TREASURY: 
1829. — Samuel D. Ingham, Pennsylvania. 
1831. — Louis McLanh, Delaware. 
1833. — William J Duane, Pennsylvania. 

1833. — Roger B. Taney, Maryland. 

1834. — Levi Woodbury, New Hampshire. 

SECRETARIES OF WAR : 
1829. — John H. Eaton, Tennessee. 
1 831. — Lewis Cass, Ohio. 

SECRETARIES OF THE NAVY : 

1829. — John Branch, North Carolina. 
1831. — Levi Woodbury, New Hampshire. 

1834. — Mahlon Dickerson, New Jersey. 

POSTMASTERS-GENERAL : 
1829. — William T. Barry, Kentucky. 

1835. — Amos Kendall, Kentucky. 

ATTORNEYS-GENERAL : 
1829. — John M. Berrien, Georgia. 
1831. — Roger B. Taney, Maryland. 
1834. — Benjamin F. Butler, New York. 



CONTEMPORANEOUS ENGLISH HISTORY. 

George IV. and William IV. 

Duke of Wellington Prime-Minister, 1828 to 1830. 
Earl Gray, Lord Melbourne, and Sir Robert Peel, 1S30 to 1837. 
Catholic-Emancipation Riots. 
Death of George IV., July, 1830. 

Revolution in Paris, July 27, 1830. Charles X. abdicates ; and the 
Duke of Orleans, as Louis Philippe, ascends the throne. 
124 



ANDREW JACKSON. 



From— 1829 to 1837. 

Duration. — Two terms, — eight years. 

Party. — Democratic. 

PRrNCiPAL Events. — Attempted " Reform." Removals from of- 
fice to secure the services of political friends (six hundred and 
ninety removals in eight years to sixty-four in forty-four years). 
Postmaster-General for the first time admitted to the cabinet. 
Cherokees removed from Georgia. Two missionaries imprisoned. 
Their release procured by Chief Justice Marshall. They follow 
the Indians. In 1830, "Webster replies to Hayne of South Carolina 
on the Foot '^'■Resolution of inquiry as to the disjJosal of public 
lands." Nullification openly avowed in Congress. John C. 
Calhoun, leader of the South-Crolina State-rights nullification 
party, resigns the Vice-Presidency of the United States, and in 
the Senate declares the protective tariff (originally introduced by 
the South) null and void, and threatens secession, if the Union, 
by force, endeavors to execute it in South Carolina. Jackson, 
resolved to enforce it, sends a national vessel and troops to 
Charleston to aid the officers in the collection of revenue. Henry 
Clay introduces a compromise, and the matter is temporarily 
adjusted. Black-Hawk War in Illinois and Wisconsin. Black 
Hawk is captured, and carried through the principal Eastern 
cities. Re-charter of the United-States Bank vetoed by Jackson. 
The Seven- Years' Florida War with the Seminoles commenced 
in 1835. Osceola and the other Indians would not be removed 

125 



126 Jackson's Administratio7t. 

beyond the Mississippi River. Col. Zachary Taylor finally forces 
submission, and closes the war. Arkansas admitted in 1836, and 
Michigan in 1837. Party-lines distinctly drawn. Supporters of 
the administration (opposed to a United-States Bank and the 
protective tarifl^ are called Democrats; all others, "Whigs. Elec- 
tion of Martin Van Buren. 

1829. — March 4. "About to undertake the 
arduous duties that I have been appointed to per- 
form by the choice of a free people, I avail my- 
self of this customary and solemn occasion to 
express the gratitude which their confidence in- 
spires, and to acknowledge the accountability 
which my situation enjoins. ... As the instru- 
ment of the Federal Constitution, it will devolve 
upon me, for a stated period, to execute the laws 
of the United States, to superintend their for- 
eign and confederate relations, to maViage their 
revenue, to command their forces, and, by com- 
munications to the Legislature, to watch over and 
to promote their interests generally. . . . The re- 
cent demonstration of public sentiment inscribes 
on the list of executive duties, in characters too 
legible to be overlooked, the task of reform. . . . 
A firm reliance on the goodness of that Power 
whose providence mercifully protected our national 



yackson's Administration. 127 

infancy, and has since upheld our h'berties in 
various vicissitudes, encourages me to offer up my 
ardent supplications that he will continue to make 
our beloved country the object of his divine care 
and gracious benediction." 

1829. — Dec. 8. " The task devolves on me, 
under a provision of the Constitution, to present 
to you, as the Federal Legislature of twentj^-four 
sovereign States and twelve millions of happy 
people, a view of our affairs. ... In communicat- 
ing with you for the first time, it is to me a 
source of unfeigned satisfaction, calling for mutual 
gratulation and devout thanks to a benign Provi- 
dence^ that we are at peace with all mankind, and 
that our country exhibits the most cheering evi- 
dence of general welfare and progressive improve- 
ment. Turning our eyes to other nations, our 
great desire is to see our brethren of the human 
race secured in the blessings enjoyed by ourselves, 
and advancing in knowledge, in freedom, and in 
social happiness. ... Of the unsettled matters 
between the United States and other powers, 
the most prominent are those which have for 
years been the subject of negotiation with Eng- 



128 Jackson s Administration. 

land, France, and Spain. With Great Britain, 
alike distinguished in peace and war, we may look 
forward to years of peaceful, honorable, and 
elevated competition. Every thing in the condi- 
tion and history of the two nations is calculated 
to inspire sentiments of mutual respect, and to 
carry conviction to the minds of both that it is 
their policy to preserve the most cordial relations. 
From France, our ancient ally, we have a right to 
expect that justice which becomes the sovereign 
of a powerful, intelligent, and magnanimous peo- 
ple. . . . The claims of our citizens for depreda- 
tions upon their property, long since committed 
under the authority, and in many instances by the 
express direction, of the then -existing govern- 
ment of France, remain unsatisfied, and must 
therefore continue to furnish a subject of unpleas- 
ant discussion and possible collision between the two 
governments. . . . Our minister recently appoint- 
ed to Spain has been authorized to assist in re- 
moving evils alike injurious to both countries. . . . 
With other European powers our intercourse is on 
the most friendly footing. 

" The recent invasion of Mexico must have a 



Jackson's Admmistration. 129 

controlling influence upon the great questions of 

South-American emancipation Prejudices 

long indulged by a portion of the inhabitants of 
Mexico against the envoy-extraordinary and min- 
ister-plenipotentary of the United States liave 
had an unfortunate influence upon the affairs of 
the two countries. ... I consider it one of the 
most urgent of my duties to bring to your atten- 
tion the propriety of amending that part of our 
Constitution which relates to the election of a 
President and Vice-President. To the people 
belongs the right of electing their chief magis- 
trate : ft "was never designed that their choice 
should, in any case, be defeated either by -the in- 
tervention of electoral colleges, or by the agency 
confided, under certain contingencies, to tlie House 
of Representatives. Experience proves, that, in 
proportion as agents to execute the will of the 
people are multiplied, there is danger of their 
wishes being frustrated. Some may be unfaithful. 
All are liable to err. So far, tlierefore, as the 
people can with convenience speak, it is safer for 
them to express their own will." 

1830. — Bee. 7. "The importance of the 



130 Jackson's Administration. 

principle involved in the inquiry, whether it will 
be proper to re-charter the Bank of the United 
States, requires that I should again call the atten- 
tion of Congress to the subject. Nothing has 
occurred to lessen in any degree the dangers 
which many of our citizens apprehended from that 
institution as at present organized. In the spirit 
of improvement and compromise which distin- 
guishes our country and its institutions, it becomes 
us to inquire whether it be not possible to- secure 
the advantages afforded by the present bank 
through the agency of a Bank ^ of the United 
States so modified in its principles and struc- 
ture as -to obviate constitutional and other objec- 
tions." . , , 

1831. — Dec. 6. ^Tor near half a century, 
the chief magistrates who have been successively 
chosen have made their annual communications 
of the state of the nation to its representatives. 
But, frequently and justly as you have been called 
on to be grateful for the bounties of Providence, 
at few periods have they been more abundantly 
or extensively bestowed than at the present; 
rarely, if ever, have we had greater reason to con- 



Jackson's Administration. 131 

gratulate each other on the continued and increas- 
ing prosperity of our beloved country." . . . 

1833. — July 10. . Bank-veto Message. 

Dec. 4. Fourth Annual Message. " Although 
the pestilence which had traversed the Old World 
has entered our limits, and extended its ravages 
over much of our land, it has pleased Almighty 
God to mitigate its severity, and lessen the number 
of victims, compared with those who have fallen in 
most other countries over which it has spread its 
terrors. Notwithstanding this visitation, our 
country presents on every side marks of prosperity 
and happiness, unequalled, perhaps, in any other 
portion of the world." . . . 

Dec. 11. Proclamation. " I, Andrew Jackson, 
President of the United States, have thought 
proper to issue this my Proclamation, stating 
my views of the Constitution and laws applica- 
ble to the measures adopted by the Convention 
of South Carolina. . . . If South Carolina con- 
siders the revenue-laws unconstitutional, and has 
a right to prevent their execution in the .port 
of Charleston, there would be a clear constitu- 
tional objection to their collection in everj othei 



132 Jackson s Adimnistration. 

port, and no revenue could be collected anywhere ; 
for all impost must be equal." . . . 

1833. — Jan. 16. Nullificatioh Message. "A 
recent proclamation of the present governor of 
South Carolina has openly defied the author- 
ity of the Executive of the Union ; and general* 
orders from the headquarters of the State an- 
nounce his determination to accept the services 
of volunteers, and his belief, that, should their 
country need their services, they will be found at 
the post of honor and duty, ready to lay down 
their lives in her defence. Under these orders, 
the forces referred to are directed to ' hold tli em- 
selves in readiness to take the field at a moment's 
warning ;' and in the city of Charleston, within a 
collection district and a port of entry, a rendez- 
vous has been opened for the purpose of enlisting 
men for the magazine and municipal guard. 
Thus South Carolina presents herself in the 
attitude of hostile preparation, and ready even 
for military violence, if need be, to enforce her 
laws* for preventing the collection of the duties 
within her limits. ... I fervently pray that the 
great Ruler of nations may so guide your delibe- 



Jackson s Administration. 133 

rations and our joint measures, as that they may 
prove salutary examples, not only to the present, 
but to future times; and solemnly proclaim that 
the Constitution and the laws are supreme, and 
the Union indissoluble.''^ ... 

1833. — March 4. Second Inaugural Address. 
" The time at which I stand before you is full of 
interest. Tlie eyes of all nations are fixed upon 
our republic.. The event of the existing crisis 
will be decisive, in the opinion of mankind, of the 
practicability of our federal system of govern- 
ment. Great is the stake placed in our hands; 
great is the responsibility which must rest upon 
the people of the United States. Let us realize 
the importance of- the attitude in which we stand 
before the world ; let us exercise forbearance and 
firmness ; let us extricate our country from the 
dangers which surround it, and learn wisdom from 
the lessons they inculcate. . . . Finally, it is my 
most fervent prayer to that Almighty Being 
before whom I now stand, and who has kept us in 
his hands from the infancy of our republic to the 
present day, that he will so overrule all my inten- 
tions and actions, and inspire the hearts of my fel- 



134 Jackson's Administration, 

low-citizens, that we may be preserved from dan- 
gers of all kinds, and continue forever a united 

AXD HAPPY PEOPLE." 

1834. — April 15. Jackson's protest. ^^ It 
appears by the published journal of the Senate, 
that, on the 26th of December last, a resolution 
was offered by a member of the Senate, which, 
after a protracted debate, was, on the twenty- 
eighth day of March last, modified by the mover, 
and passed by the votes of twenty-six senators 
out of forty-six, who were present and voted, in 
the following words : — 

" ^ Resolved, That the President, in the late 
executive proceedings in relation to the public 
revenue, has assumed upon himself authority 
and power not conferred by the Constitution and 
laws, but in derogation of both.' . . . Having had 
the honor, thtough the voluntary suffrages of the 
American people, to fill the office of President of 
the United States during the period which may 
be presumed to have been referred to in this reso- 
lution, it is sufficiently evident that the censure 
it inflicts was intended for myself. Witliout 
notice, unheard and untried, I thus find myself 



Jackson's Admi7iistration: 135 

charged on the records of the Senate, and in a 
form hitherto unknown in our historj^, with the 
high crime of violating the laws and Constitution 
of my country. ... It cannot be doubted that it 
was the legal duty of the Secretary of the Treasury 
to order and direct the deposits of the public 
money to be made elsewhere than in tlie Bank of 
the United States, whenever sufficient reasons ex- 
isted for making the change. . . . The dangerous 
tendency of the doctrine which denies to the 
President the power of supervising, directing, and 
removing the Secretary of the Treasury in like 
manner with other executive officers would soon 
be manifest in practice were the doctrine to be 
established. The President is the direct represen- 
tative of the American people ; but the secretaries 
are not." ... 

1834.— June 21. " The afflicting intelligence 
of the death of the illustrious Lafayette has been 
received by me this morning." ... 

Dec. 2. Annual Message. " Events h-ave satis- 
fied my mind, and I think the minds of the American 
people, that the mischiefs and dangers which flow 
from a national bank far ov(?rba1ance all its advan- 



13^ Jackson's Administration. 

tages. . . . The State banks are found fullj^ ade- 
quate to the performance of all services which were 
required of the Bank of the United States, quite as 
promptly, and with the same cheapness/' . . . 

1835.' — Dec. 2. " Never, in any former period 
of our historj^, have we had greater reason than 
we now have to be thankful to Divine Providence 
for the l>lessings of health and general prosperity. 
Every branch of labor we see crowned with the 
most abundant rewards : in every eleinent of 
national resources and wealth, and of individual 
comfort, we witness the most rapid and solid im- 
provements.. ... It has been seen, that, without 
the agency of a great moneyed monopoly, the 
revenue can be collected, and conveniently and 
safely applied to all the purposes of the public 
expenditure." 

1836. — Feb. 8. "The government of Great 
Britain has offered its mediation for the adjust- 
ment of the dispute between the United States 
and France." . . . 

May 10. " Information has been received at the 
treasury department, that the four instalments 
under our treaty with France have been paid to 



yackso7is Administration. 137 

the agent of the United States. In communicat- 
ing this satisfactory termination of our controversy 
with France, I feel assured that both houses of 
Congress will unite with mo in desiring and 
believing that the anticipations of a restoration of 
the ancient cordial relations between the two 
countries, expressed in my former message on this 
subject, will be speedily realized." 

1836. — Dec. 6. "Addressing to you the last 
Annual Message I shall ever present to the Con- 
gress of the United States, it is a source of the 
most heartfelt satisfaction to be able to congratu- 
late you on the high state of prosperity which our 
beloved country has attained. With no causes at 
home or abroad to lessen the confidence with 
which we look to the future for continuing proofs 
of the capacity of our free institutions to produce 
all the fruits of good government, the general 
condition of our affairs may well excite our 
national pride. . . . All that has occurred during 
my administration, is calculated to inspire me with 
increased confidence in the stability of our institu- 
tions ; and should I be spared to enter upon that 
retirement which is so suitable to my age and 



13^ Jcickson's Administration. 

infirm health, and so much desired by me in other 
respects, I shall not cease to invoke that beneficent 
Being, to whose providence we are already so 
signally indebted, for the continuance of his 
blessings on our beloved country." 

1837. — March 3. Closing passages of the 
Farewell Address : " The progress of the United 
States under our free and happy institutions has 
surpassed the most sanguine hopes of the found- 
ers of the republic. Our growth has been rapid 
beyond all former example, in numbers, in wealth, 
in knowledge, and all the useful arts which con- 
tribute to the comforts and convenience of man ; 
and, from the earliest ages of history to the pres- 
ent day, there never have been thirteen millions 
of people, associated together in one political body, 
who enjoyed so much freedom and happiness as 
the people of these United States. yt>u have 
no longer any cause to fear danger from abroad : 
your strength and power are well known through- 
out the civilized world, as well as the high and gal- 
lant bearing of your sons, It is from within, 
among yourselves, from cupidity, from corruption, 
from disappointed ambition, and inordinate thirst 



Jackson's Adminisfration. 139 

for power, that factions will be formed, and liberty 
endangered. ... You have the highest of human 
trusts committed to your care. Providence has 
showered on this favored land blessings without 
number, and has chosen you, as the guardians of 
freedom, to preserve it for the benefit of the 
human race. May He who holds in his hands 
the destinies of nations make you worthy of the 
favors he has bestowed, and enable you, with pure 
hearts and pure hands, and sleepless vigilance, to 
guard and defend to the end of time the great 
charge he has committed to your keeping ! . . . I 
thank God that my life has been spent in a land 
of liberty, and that he has given me a heart to 
love my country with the affection of a son. And, 
filled with gratitude for your constant and un- 
wavering kindness, I bid you a last and affection- 
ate farewell " Aj^piiEW Jackson," 



VAN BUREN'S ADIINISTMTION. 

1857 TO 1841. 



THE CABINET. 



PRESIDENT: 

MARTIN VAN BUREN, New York. 

VICE-PRESIDENT: 
RICHARD M. JOHNSON, Kentucky. 

SECRETARY OF STATE: 

1837. — John Forsyth, Georgia. 

SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY: 

1837. — Levi Woodbury, New Hampshire. 

SECRETARY OF WAR: 

1837. — Joel R. Poinsett, South Carolina. 

SECRETARIES OF THE NAVY: 

1837. — Mahlon Dickerson, New Jersey. 

1838. — James K. Paulding, New York. 

POSTMASTERS-GENERAL: 
1837. — Amos Kendall, Kentucky. 
1840. — John M. Niles, Connecticut. 

ATTORNEYS-GENERAL : 
1837. — Benjamin F. Butler, New York. 
1S38.— Felix Grundy, Tennessee. 
1840. — Henry D. Gilpin, Pennsylvania. 



CONTEMPORANEOUS ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Reign — William IV. and Victoria. 

1 ord Melbourne Prime-Minister (second time). 

Commercial failures. 

King William IV. died June 20, 1837. 

Queen Victoria ascended the throne. 

Coronation, June 28, 1838. 

Rebellion in Canada in 1838 on account of British taxation and expen- 
ditures. 

Affghan War in India 

Another rebellion in Canada in 1839. 

Disturlaances in Ireland. The Corn Laws, instead of the Irish 
Church, the party question. 

Chartist riots at Birmingham and elsewhere. 

Penny-postage established in 1840. 

Marriage of the Queen and Prince Albert, Feb. 10, 1840. 

Upper and Lower Canada one government. 

Chinese War. • 
142 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 



From — 1837 to 1841. 

Duration. — One term, — four years. 

Party. — Democratic. 

Principal Events. — Relations with England disturbed by a re- 
bellion in Canada for independence. The supply steamboat 
" Caroline," owned by American adventurers, is seized by British 
authorities, fired, and sent in flames over Niagara Falls. McLeod 
is arrested, and acquitted. Terrible financial disasters. Nearly 
a thousand banks engaged in land-speculations, amounting to 
millions monthly. Prospective cities, towns, and villages ele- 
gantly laid out on paper. Suspension of State banks. More 
. mercantile failures in 1837 than in any previous year of the repub- 
lic. The United-States Bank suspends specie payment, Oct. 9, 
1839. Mississippi, and Florida Territory, repudiate their debts. 
An independent United-States Treasury, with sub-treasury oflBces 
in New York and other ports of collection, is organized in 1839. 
The Republic of Texas applies for admission to the Union. An- 
other slavery agitation. Debate between Clay and Calhoun. 
North-eastern boundary question settled in 1840 (line subse- 
quently adjusted by Lord Ashburtan and Daniel Webster). 
Lieut. Wilkes's exploringexpedition is on its way to the Arctic 
regions. Gen. William Henry Harrison is elected President. 

1837. — March 4. Extracts from the Inau- 
gural Address : " The last, perhaps the greatest, 



144 ^^^ Burens Administration. 

of the prominent sources of discord and disaster 
supposed to lurk in our political condition was the 
institution of domestic slavery. Our forefathers 
were deeply impressed with the delicacy of this 
subject ; and they treated it with a forbearance so 
evidently wise, that, in spite of every sinister 
foreboding, it never, until the present period, dis- 
turbed the tranquillity of our common country. . . . 
I must go into the presidential chair the inflexible 
and uncompromising opponent of every attempt 
on the part of Congress to abolish slavery in the 
District of Columbia against the wishes of the 
slaveholding States ; and also with a determina- 
tion, equally decided, to resist the slightest inter- 
ference with it in the States where it exists." . . . 
1837. — Sept. 4. "Banking has become a 
political topic of the highest interest ; and trade 
has suffered in the conflict of parties. . . . My 
own views upon the subject have been repeatedly 
and unreservedly announced to my fellow-citizens, 
who, with full knowledge of them, conferred upon 
me the two highest offices of the government. 
On the last of these occasions, I felt it due to the 
people to apprise them distinctly, that, in the event 



Van Buren^s Administration. 145 

of my election, I would not be able to co-operate 
in the re-establishment of a national bank. . . . 
The suspension of specie payments at such a time, 
and under such circumstances as we have lately 
witnessed, could not be other than a temporary 
measure ; and we can scarcely err in believing 
that the period must soon arrive when all that are 
solvent will redeem their issues in gold and 
silver/^ . . . 

183*7. — Dec. 4 First Annual Message. "We 
have reason to renew the expression of our de- 
vout gratitude to the Giver of all good for his 
benign protection. Our country presents on every 
side the evidences of that continued favor under 
whose auspices it has gradually risen from a few 
feeble and dependent colonies to a prosperous and 
powerful confederacy. We are blessed with 
domestic tranquillity and all the elements of na- 
tional prosperity. The pestilence, which, invading 
for a time some flourishing portions of our Union, 
interrupted the general prevalence of unusual 
health, has, happily, been limited in extent, and 
arrested in' its fatal career. The industry and 
prudence of our citizens are gradually relieving 
10 



146 Va7t Buren's Administration. 

them from the pecuniary embarrassments under 
which portions of them have labored; judicious 
legislation and the natural and boundless resources 
of the country have afforded wise and timely aid 
to private enterprise ; and • the activity always 
characteristic of our people has already, in a great 
degree, resumed its usual and profitable channels. 
We remain at peace with all nations ; and no 
effort on my part, consistent with the preservation 
of our rights and the honor of our country, shall 
be spared to maintain a position so consonant to 
our institutions. ... Of pending questions, the 
most important is that which exists with the gov- 
ernment of Great Britain in respect to our north- 
eastern boundary. It is with unfeigned regret 
that the people of the United States must look 
back upon the abortive efforts made by the Execu- 
tive, for a period of more than half a century, to 
determine what no nation should suffer long to 
remain in dispute, — the true line which divides its 
possessions from those of other powers. . . . 
Civil war yet rages in Spain, producing intense 
suffering to its own people, and to other nations 
inconvenience and regret. . . . Notwithstanding 



Van Bureits Administration. 147 

the great embarrassments which have recently 
occurred in commercial affairs, it is gratifying to 
be able to anticipate that the treasury - notes 
which have been issued during the present year 
will be redeemed, and that the resources of the 
treasury, without any resort to loans or increased 
taxes, will prove ample for defraying all charges 
imposed on it during 1838. . . . The system of 
removing the Indians west of the Mississippi, 
commenced "by Mr. Jefferson in 1804, has been 
steadily persevered in by every succeeding presi- 
dent, and may be considered the settled policy of 
the country." 

1838. — Dec. 4. Second Annual Message. 
"I congratulate you on the favorable circum- 
stances in the condition of our country under 
which you re-assemble for the performance of your 
official duties. . . . These blessings, which evince 
the care and beneficence of Providence, call for our 
devout and fervent gratitude. . . . The 'most 
amicable dispositions continue to be exhibited by 
all the nations with whom the government and 
citizens of the United States have an habitual 
intercourse. At the date of my last Annual 



148 Vajt Biirens Administration. 

Message, Mexico was the only nation which could 
not be included in so gratifying a reference to our 
foreign relations," . . . E-especting the Canadian 
rebellion he says, " If an insurrection existed in 
Canada, the amicable dispositions of the United 
States toward Great Britain, as well as their duty 
to themselves, would lead them to maintain a 
strict neutralit}'', and to restrain their citizens 
from all violations of the laws which have been 
passed for its enforcement." 

1839. — Dec. 24. " I regret that I cannot, 
on this occasion, congratulate you that the past 
year has been one of unalloyed prosperity. The 
ravages of fire and disease have painfully afflicted 
otherwise flourishing portions of our country, and 
serious embarrassments yet derange the trade of 
many of our cities ; but, notwithstanding these 
adverse circumstances, that general prosperity 
which has been heretofore so bountifully bestowed 
upon us by the Author of all good still continues 
to call for our warmest gratitude." . . . 

184:0. — Dec. 5. Fourth Annual Message. 
"Our devout gratitude is due to the Supreme 
Being for having graciously continued to our 



Van Bttrefi's Administration. 149 

beloved country, through the vicissitudes of an- 
other year, the invaluable blessings of health, 
plenty, and peace. Seldom has this favored land 
been so generally exempted from the ravages of 
disease, or the labor of the husbandman been more 
amply rewarded; and never before have our re- 
lations with other countries been placed on a more 
favorable basis. . . . With Austria, France, Prussia, 
E-ussia, and the remaining powers of Europe, our 
relations continue to be of the most friendly char- 
acter. . . . The industrj^, enterprise, perseverance, 
and economy of the American people cannot fail 
to raise the whole country at an early period to a 
state of solid and enduring prosperity, not subject 
to be again overthrown by the suspension of banks 
or the explosion of a bloated credit-system. It is 
for the people aBd their representatives to decide 
whether or not the permanent welfare of the 
country, which all good citizens equally desire, 
however widely they may differ as to the means 
of its accomplishment, shall be in this way 
secured. . . . "Martix Van Burex.'^ 



ADMIKISTEATIOlfS 

OF 

¥. H. HAEEISON AND J. TYLER. 

1841 TO 1845. 



151 



THE CABINET. 



PRESIDENTS: 

WILLIAM HENRY -HARRISON, Ohio, 

(Died April 4, 1841 ) 

JOHN TYLER, Virginia. 

VICE-PRESIDENT: 
JOHN TYLER, Virginia. 
SECRETA^ES OF STATE: 

1841. — Daniel Webster, Massachusetts. 

1843. — Hugh S. Legare, South Carolina. 

1843. — Abel P. Upshur, Virginia. 

1844. — J9HN Nelson, Maryland. 

1845. — John C. Calhoun, South Carolina. 

SECRETARIES OF THE TREASURY: 

1841. — Thomas Ewing, Ohio. 

1841. — Walter Forward, Pennsylvania. 

1843. — J. C. Spencer, New York. 

1844. — George M. Bibb, Kentucky. 

SECRETARIES OF WAR: 
1841. — John Bell, Tennessee. 
1841. — John C. Spencer, New York. 
1843. — James M. Porter, Pennsylvania. 
1844. — William Wilkins, Pennsylvania. 

SECRETARIES OF THE NAVY: 
1841. — George E. Badger, North Carolina. 
1841. — Abel P. Upshur, Virginia. 

1843. — David Henshaw, Massachusetts. 

1844. — Thomas W. Gilmer, Virginia. 
1844. — John Y. Mason, Virginia. 

POSTMASTERS-GENERAU : 
1841. — Francis Granger, New York. 
• 1841. — Charles A. Wickliffe, Kentucky. 

ATTORNEYS-GCNERAL: 
1841. — John J. CRiTTENDEN,nK^entucky. 
1841. — Hugh S. Lkgare, South Carolina. 
1844. — John Nelson, Maryland. 



CONTEMPORANEOUS ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Reign. — Victoria. 
Lord Melbourne, Prime-Minister. 
Resignation of the ministry, Aug. 30, 1841. 
Sir Robert Peel, Premier, from Sept. 8, 1841, to 1846. 
Affghan War in India. Bank Charter Act. Repeal of Com Laws. 
Cb'nese War ended in 1842. 

National distress and commercial disasters in 1843. 
ir.2 



WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON 
AND JOHN TYLER. 



From — March 4, 1841, to 1845. 

Duration. — One term, — four years. 

Party. — Whig. 

Principax Events. — Death of Harrison one month after his inau- 
guration. John Tyler, as Vice-President, Inaugurated President. 
Sub-treasury Law repealed Aug. 9, 1841. A general Bankrupt 
Law passed. "The Fiscal Bank of the United States" Bill 
vetoed Aug. 16. " The Fiscal Corporation of the United States" 
Bill vetoed Sept. 9. Whig party furious. G-cneral dissolution 
of the cabinet. Daniel Webster the last to resign. Lord Ash- 
burton Treaty signed. Rhode-Island Dorr Rebellion, resulting in 
a new constitution in place of the Charles II. charter. Oregon 
question introduced. Liberty party organized. Treaty arranged 
with China by Caleb Gushing. The Mormon Joe Smith and his 
brother murdered by a mob. Resolution of Congress for the 
annexation of Texas signed by Pres. Tyler, March 1, 1845; also 
bills admitting Florida and Iowa. Emigration westward con- 
stantly increasing. James K. Polk elected President. 

1841. — March 4 Extracts from the Inaugu- 
ral Address of William Henry Harrison : " Called 

153 



154 Harrison's Administration. 

from a retirement, which I had supposed was to 
continue for the residue of my life, to fill the 
chief executive office of this great and free 
nation, I appear before you, fellow-citizens, to 
take the oath which the Constitution prescribes 
as a necessary qualification for the perf(^rmance 
of its duties. . . . However strong may be my 
present purpose to realize the expectations of a 
magnanimous and confiding people, I too well 
understand the infirmities of human nature, and 
the dangers and temptations to which I shall be 
exposed, not to place my chief confidence upon 
the aid of that Almighty Power which has 
hitherto protected me, and enabled me to bring to 
favorable issues other important but still greatly- 
inferior trusts heretofore confided to me by my 
country. . . . We admit of no government by 
divine right ; believing that, so far as power is 
concerned, the beneficent Creator has made no 
distinction among men ; that all are upon an 
equality ; and that the only legitimate right to 
govern is an express grant of power from the 
governed. The Constitution of the United States' 
is the instrument containing the grant of power 



Harrison's Admi7iistration. 155 

to the several departments composing the govern- 
ment. . . . The great danger to our institutions 
does not appear to me to be in a usurpation by the 
government of power not granted by the people, 
but by the accumulation in one of the depart- 
ments of that which was assigned to others. 
Limited as are powers which have been granted, 
still enough have been granted to constitute a 
despotism, if concentrated in one of the depart- 
ments. ... Of the eligibility of the same indi- 
vidual to a second term of the presidency, the 
sagacious mind of Mr. Jefferson early saw and 
lamented the error ; and attempts have been made, 
hitherto without success, to apply the amendatory 
power of the States to its correction. As, how- 
ever, one mode of correction is in the power of 
every President, and consequently in mine, it 
would be useless, and perhaps invidious, to enu- 
merate the evils, of which, in the opinion of 
many of our fellow-citizens, this error of the 
sages who framed the Constitution maj'- have 
been the source, and the bitter fruits which we 
are still to gather from it if it continues to dis- 
figure our system. It may be observed, however, 



156 Harris oji's Administration. 

as a general remark, that republics can commit no 
greater error than to adopt or continue any feature 
in their sj'-stems of government which may be 
calculated to create or increase the love of power 
in the bosoms of those to whom necessity obliges 
them to commit the management of their affairs. 
And surely nothing is more likely to produce such 
a state of mind than the long continuance of an 
office of high trust ; nothing can be more cor- 
rupting, nothing more destructive of all those 
noble feelings which belong to the character of a 
devoted republican patriot. When this corrupt- 
ing passion once takes possession of the human 
mind, like the love of gold, it becomes insatiable : 
it is the never-dying worm in his bosom ; grows 
with his growth, and strengthens with the declin- 
ing years of its victim. If this is true, it is the 
part of wisdom for a republic to limit the service 
of that officer, at least, to whom she has intrusted 
the management of her foreign relations, the 
execution of her laws, and the command of her 
armies and navies, to a period so short as to pre- 
vent his forgetting that he is the accountable 
agent, not the principal ; tlie servant, not the 



. Harrison s Administration, 157 

master. Until an amendment of the Constitution 
can be effected, public opinion may secure the 
desired object. I give mj^ aid to it by renewing 
the pledge heretofore given, that under no cir- 
cumstances will I consent to serve a second 
term. . . . There is no part of the means placed 
in the hands of the Executive, which might be 
used with greater effect for unhallowed purposes 
than the control of the public press.^ The maxim 
which our ancestors derived from the mother- 
country, that ' the freedom of the press is the 
great bulwark of civil and religious liberty,' is 
one of the most precious legacies which they left 
us. We have learned too, from our own as well 
as the experience of other countries, that golden 
shackles, by whomsoever, or by whatever pretence, 
imposed, are as fatal to it as the iron bonds of 
despotism. The presses in the necessary employ- 
ment of the government should never be used ' to 
clear the guilty, or to varnish crimes.' A decent 
and manly examination of the acts of the govern- 
ment should be not only tolerated, but encouraged. 
Upon another occasion, I have given my opinion, 
at some length, upon the impropriety of executive 



158 Harrison's Administration. . 

interference in the legislation of Congress. . . . 
In our intercourse with our aboriginal neighbors, 
the same liberality and justice which marked the 
course prescribed to me by two of my illustrious 
predecessors, when acting under their direction in 
the discharge of the duties of superintendent and 
commissioner, shall be strictly observed. I can 
conceive of no more sublime spectacle — none 
more likely to propitiate an impartial Creator — 
than a rigid adherence to the principles of justice 
on the part of a powerful nation in its transac- 
tions with a ^veaker and uncivilized people whom 
circumstances have placed at its disposal. . . . Al- 
ways the friend of my countrymen, never their 
flatterer, it becomes my duty to say to them from 
this high place to which their partiality has ex- 
alted me, that there exists in the land a spirit 
hostile to their best interests, hostile to libertj'' 
itself. It is a spirit contracted in its views, selfish 
in its object ; it looks to the aggrandizement of 
a few, even to the destruction of the interest of 
the whole. The entire remedy is with the people. 
Something, however, may be effected by the 
means which they have placed in my hands. It 



Harrison's Administration, 159 

is union that we want, — not of a party for the 
sake of party, but a union of tlie whole country 
for the sake of the whole country. ... I deem the 
present occasion sufficiently important and solemn 
to justify me in expressing to my fellow-citizens 
a profound reverence for the Christian religion, 
and a thorough conviction that sound morals, 
religious liberty, and a just sense of religious 
responsibility, are essentially connected with all 
true and lasting happiness. And to that good 
Being who has blessed us by the gifts of civil 
and religious freedom, who watched over and 
prospered the labors of our fathers, and has 
hitherto preserved to us institutions far exceeding 
in excellence those of any other people, let us 
unite in fervently commending every interest of 
our beloved country in all future time. 

"William Henry Harrison." 



POLK'S ADMINISTKATION. 
1845 ^^ 1849. 



11 161 



THE CABINET. 



PRESIDENT : 

JAMES KNOX POLK, Tennessee. 

VICE-PRESIDENT: 
GEORGE M. DALLAS, Pennsylvania. 
SECRETARY OF STATE: 
1845. — James Buchanan, Pennsylvania. 

SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY: 
1845. — Robert J. Walker, Mississippi. 

SECRETARY OF WAR: 
1845. — William L. Marcv, New York. 

SECRETARIES OF THE NAVY: 
1S45. — George Bancroft, Massachusetts. 
1846. — John Y. Mason, Virginia. 

POSTMASTER-GENERAL: 
.1845. — Cave Johnson, Tennessee. 

ATTORNEYS-GENERAL: 
1845. — John Y. Mason, Virginia. 
1846 — Nathan Clifford, Maine. 
1848. — Isaac Toucey, Connecticut. 



CONTEMPORANEOUS ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Reign. — Victoria. 

Premier. — Sir Robert Peel, to 1846. 

Lord John Russell, to 1849 (and 1852). 

Lord Lyndhurst, Lord Chancellor, fourth term since 1827. 

Grant to Maynooth College. T. B. Macaulay's vote costs him his 
seat in the cabinet. 

Failure of the Irish potato-crop, 1843. Irish famine for nearly three 
years. 

Bright and Cobden, leaders of the Corn-law League. 

Commercial and railway failures in 1847. Monetary crisis. 

French Revolution, February, 1848. Riot at Glasgow, March 6. 

Chai*tist meeting on Kenninj^ton Common, April 10. 

Irish insurrection under Smith O'Brien. 

Lord Palmerstou's foreign policy attacked by Disraeli and Lord 
Stanley. 

Mr, Disraeli, leader of the Protectionist party. 

Numerous revolutions in Europe. 

Louis Napoleon elected President of the French Republic, Decem- 
ber, 1848. 

162 



JAMES K. POLK. 



From — 1845 to 1849. 

Duration. — One term, — four years. 

Party. — Democratic. 

Principai. Events.— "War vidth Mexico on account of the annex- 
ation of Texas (ceded to Spain in 1819). Gen. Taylor moves 
to the Rio Grande; overcomes Gen. Arista at Palo Alto, Resaca 
de la Palma, and Matamoras. Monterey surrenders. Gen. 
Wool leads the army against Chihuahua. Saltillo and Tampico 
taken. Gen. Scott enters Vera Cruz. Retreat of Santa Anna 
from Buena Vista, notwithstanding his force of twenty-five 
thousand strong against five thousand under Taylor, Worth, 
Wool, Quitman, Butler, &c. Gen. Kearny enters Santa Fe, the 
capital of Ifew Mexico. Capt. John C. Fremont, near San Fran- 
cisco, on his Oregon exploring-expeditlon, hearing of the war, 
raises the American flag, July 5, 1846, and declares the inde- 
pendence of that Territory. Coms. Sloat and Stockton, two 
days after, assert the independence of Monterey. Com. Stock- 
ton and Capt. Fremont at once co-operate, and conquer Upper 
California. Expedition against Chihuahua, under Col. Doniphan, 
at the Sacramento Pass, Feb. 28, 1847. Gen. Scott and Com. 
Perry capture Vera Cruz ; and the Castle of San Juan de Ulloa 
surrenders, March 29, 1847. On his march towards the city of 
Mexico, Gen. Scott meets Santa Anna at Cerro Gordo, and again 
defeats him. Puebla falls, also Contreras and Churubusco. Gen. 
Worth assaults Molino del Rey, and takes it ; also the Casllo 

163 



164 Polkas Administration. 

of Chapultepec, the last stronghold of the capital; and Sept. 14, 
1847, the American army enters the city of Mexico. Treaty 
closed at Guadalupe Hidalgo*. Peace proclaimed by Pres. Polk, 
July 4, 1848. Mexico is promised fifteen million dollars, and 
her debts to American citizens of three millions. Cause of the 
war charged on Calhoun by Benton ; the former having been a 
member of Monroe's cabinet, as Secretary of War, in 1819, 
" when Texas was given away." Oregon question settled with 
England, 1846. " The Globe," published at Washington, super- 
seded as the administration organ, and " The Daily Union" sub- 
stituted. Benton says, " It was paid for out of public money 
by a treasury order for fifty thousand dollars." Florida, Iowa, 
and Wisconsin admitted, as well as Texas. ' Vast gold-discov- 
eries in California. FREESoiii Party organized in view of the 
proposed extension of slavery into California, Utah, and New 
Mexico.. The Wilmot Proviso, " that no part of the territory to 
be acquired shall be open to the introduction of slavery," op- 
posed by Mr. Calhoun's slavery resolutions, denying the right 
of Congress to prohibit slavery in any Territory. Great slavery 
agitation. Daniel Webster replies to Calhoun. Disunion pro- 
posed by South Carolina and Mississippi. Gen. Zachary Taylor 
elected President. 

1845. — March 4. Extracts from Inaugural : 
"Fellow-citizens, without solicitation on my part, 
I have been chosen, by the free and voluntary 
suffrages of my countrymen, to the most honorable 
and most responsible office on earth. . . . With a 
firm reliance uppn the wisdom of Omnipotence to 
sustain and direct me in the path of duty which I 



Polk's Administration. 165 

am appointed to pursue, I stand in the presence 
of this assembled multitude to take upon myself 
the solemn obligations, to the best of my ability, 
to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution 
of the United States. . . . The government of 
the United States is one of delegated and limited 
powers ; and it is by a strict adherence to the 
clearly-granted powers, and by abstaining from 
the exercise of doubtful or unauthorized implied 
powers, that we have the only sure guaranty 
against the recurrence of those unfortunate collis- 
ions between the Federal and State authorities 
which have occasionally so much disturbed the 
harmony of our system, and even threatened the 
perpetuity of our glorious Union. . . . Each State 
is a complete sovereignty within the sphere of its 
reserved powers. The government of the Union, 
acting within the sphere of its delegated authority, 
is also a complete sovereignty. While the General 
Government should abstain from the exercise of 
authority not clearly delegated to it, the States 
should be equally careful, that, in the maintenance 
of their rights, they do not overstep the limits of 
powers reserved to them. . . . The inestimable 



1 66 Polk's Administration. 

value of our Federal Union is felt and acknowl- 
edged bj^ all. By this system of united and 
confederated States, our people are permitted, 
collectively and individually, to seek their own 
happiness in their own way ; and the consequences 
have been most auspicious. Since the Union was 
formed, the number of the States has increased 
from thirteen to twenty-eight : our population has 
increased from three to twenty millions. New 
communities and States are seeking protection 
under its Jegis, and multitudes from the Old 
World are flocking to our shores to participate in 
its blessings. Beneath its benign sway, peace 
and prosperity prevail. Freed from the burdens 
and miseries of war, our trade and intercourse have 
extended throughout the world. . . . Genius is 
free to announce its inventions and discoveries ; 
and the hand is free to accomplish whatever the 
head conceives, not incompatible with the rights 
of a fellow-being. All distinctions of birth or of 
rank have been abolished. All citizens, whether 
native or adopted, are placed upon terms of pre- 
cise equality. All are entitled to equal rights 
and equal protection. No union exists between 



Polk's Administration. 167 

Church and State ; and perfect freedom of opinion 
is guaranteed to all sects and creeds. ... I am 
happy to believe, that, at every period of our ex- 
istence as a nation, there has existed, and continues 
to exist, among the great mass of our people, a de- 
votion to the union of the States, which will shield 
and protect it against the moral treason of any one 
who would seriously contemplate its destruction. 
... A national debt has become almost an in- 
stitution of European monarchies. It is viewed, 
in some of them, as an essential prop to existing 
governments. Melancholy is the condition of that 
people whose government can be sustained only 
by a system which periodically transfers large 
amounts from the labor of the many to the coffers 
of the few. Such a system is incompatible with 
the ends for which our republican government 
was instituted. Under a wise policy, the debts 
contracted in our E-evolution, and during the war 
of 1812, have been happily extinguished, ... In 
levying a tariff of duties for the support of gov- 
ernment, the raising of revenue should be the 
object f and protection the incident. ... It is con- 
fidently believed that onr system of annexation 



1 68 Polkas Administration. 

may be safely extended to the utmost bounds of 
our territorial limits ; and that, as it shall be ex- 
tended, the bonds of our Union, so far from being 
weakened, will become stronger. ... I enter upon 
the discharge of the high duties which have been 
assigned me by the people, again humbly suppli- 
cating that Divine Being, who has watched over 
and protected our beloved country from its infancy 
to the present hour, to continue his gracious bene- 
dictions upon us, that we may continue to be a 
prosperous and happy people. 

"James K. Polk." 



ADMIlSriSTRATIO^^S 

OF 

ZACHARY TAYLOR AND MILLARD 
riLLMORE. 

1849 TQ 1833, 



169 



THE CABINET. 



PRESIDENTS: 

ZACHARY TAYLOR, Louisiana, 

(Died July 9, 1850.) 

MILLARD FILLMORE, New York. 

VICE-PRESIDENT: 

MILLARD FILLMORE, New York. 

SECRETARIES OF STATE: 

1849. — John M. Clayton, Delaware. 

1850. — Dantel Webster, Massachusetts. 
1852. — Edward Everett, Massachusetts. 

SECRETARIES OF THE TREASURY: 

1849. — William M. Meredith, Pennsylvania. 
1850. — Thomas Corwin, Ohio. 

SECRETARIES OF WAR: 

1849. — George W. Crawford, Georgia. 

1850. — Charles M. Conrad, Louisiana. 

SECRETARIES OF THE NAVY: 
1849. — William B. Preston, Virginia. 
1850. — William A. Graham, North Carolina. 
1852. — John P. Kennedy, Maryland. 

SECRETARIES OF THE INTERIOR: 

1849. — Thomas Ewing, Ohio. 

1850. — Alexander H. H. Stuart, Virginia. 

POSTMASTERS-GENERAL: 

1849. — Jacob Collamer, Vermont. 

1850. — Nathan K. Hall, New York. 
1852. — Samuel D. Hubbard, Connecticut. 

ATTORNEYS-GENERAL: 

1849. — Reverdy Johnson, Maryland. 
1850. — John J. Crittenden, Kentucky. 



CONTEMPORANEOUS ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Reign. — Victoria. 

Premier. — Lord John Russell ; resigned Feb. 22, 1851. 

From Feb. 22 to March 3 there was virtually no administration. 
Duke of Wellington, Queen's counsellor. 

Earl of Derby, February to December, 1852. 

Earl of Aberdeen, 1852 to 1853 (and 1855). 

Sir Robert Peel died July 2, 1S50, in consequence of a fall from his horse. 

Burmese War commenced October, 1851. 

Coup d'jfctat in Paris, Dec. 2, 1851. Louis Napoleon, President; 
recognized as Emperor, Dec. 6, 1852. 

ihe Duke of Wellington died Sept. 14, 1852. 
170 



ZACHARY TAYLOR AND 
MILLARD FILLMORE. 



From — 1849 to 1853. 
r>uuATiON. — One term, — four years. 
Party. — Whig, 

Principal Events. — Great slavery agitation. Discussions be- 
tween Calhoun and Webster. Southern leaders determined to 
carry slaves into Texas and other new territory. Calhoun 
draws up a Southern manifesto for the dissolution of the Union, 
and obtains forty-two signatures to it. Secession conventions are 
held in South Carolina and Mississippi. Pres. Taylor stands by 
the Union. Southerners oppose the admission of California as a 
free State. Henry Clay, a member of the House in 1821 (Mon- 
roe's administration), and author of the Missouri Compromise of 
that year, proposes a consolidaition of all past compromises on 
the slavery question into one bill of thirty-nine sections, called 
"The Omnibus Bill of 1850." After eight months' heated dis- 
cussion, the bill, powerfully opposed by Benton on account of its 
embracing so many subjects, is lost; and the States and Terri- 
tories are admitted by separate acts, as follows: — 

Utah Territory Bill, Aug. 10, 1850. 

Texas Boundary Bill, Aug. 10, 1850. 

California State Bill, Aug. 13, 1850. 

New-Mexico Territory Bill, Aug. 14, 1850. 

Fugitive-slave Bill, Aug. 23, 1850. 

Abolition of slave-trade in District of Columbia, Sept. 14, 1850. 

171 



172 Taylor and Filhnore s Administrations. 

In the course of the discussion, Jefferson Davis requires that 
the Missouri line of compromise to New Mexico and California 
shall be extended to the Pacific, with the right to hold slaves in 
new territory below the line. Calhoun in his last address, read by 
Mr. Mason, after alluding to the antislavery ordinance of 1787 (no 
more slavery in the North-west) and the Missouri compromises 
of 1820-1821, admits that the first agitation for the dissolution 
of the Union commenced in 1835. Daniel Webster delivers a 
conciliatory speech, March 7, 1850. Death of John C. Calhoun, 
March 31, 1850 : he graduated at Yale College in 1804 with high 
honors : his father, Patrick Calhoun, was born in Ireland. Death 
of Pres. Taylor, July 9, 1850: " Tlie nation mourns his loss.'' 
Millard Fillmore is inaugurated President, July 10, 1850; Daniel 
"Webster, Secretary of State. Upon the passage of the California 
Bill, ten Southern senators offer a protest. Robert C. Winthrop 
raises the question of reception of protest, to keep it from the 
journal of the Senate ; and the bill is duly sent to the House, and 
passed'. John C. Fremont and William M. Grwinn of California 
take their seats as senators. Fugitive-slave Law terribly obnox- 
ious. Mormon trouble increasing. Webster and Hulsemann 
correspondence. Gen. Lopez, a Spaniard, attempts a revolution 
in Cuba. Search is made for Sir John Franklin by the Grinnell 
and United-States expeditions, under Dr. Kane. Spain, France, 
and England join in a "tripartite treaty" not to take Cuba. 
Death of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster in 1852. Election of 
Charles Sumner to the Senate of 1852, and Nathaniel P. Banks to 
the House of 1854. Mrs. Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin," 
published in 1851, enters upon its world-wide mission. Kossuth 
visits the United States, and obtains $100,000 for Hungary. The 
Whig -party, by compromises with slavery, is destroyed ; and 
Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire is elected President, and 
William Rufus King of Alabama Vice-President, to March 4, 
1857. 



Taylor and Fillmore 's Administrations. 1 73 

1849. — Extract from the first and only An- 
nual Message of Pres. Taylor : " Attachment to the 
Union of the States should be habitually fostered 
in every American heart. For more than half a 
century, during which kingdoms and empires have 
fallen, this Union has stood unshaken. The 
patriots who formed it have long since descended 
to the grave ; yet still it remains the proudest 
monument to their memory, and the object of 
affection and admiration with every one worthy to 
bear the American name. . . . Upon its preserva- 
tion must depend our own happiness and that of 
countless generations to come. Whatever dangers 
may threaten it, I shall stand by it, and maintain 
it in its integrity to the full extent of the obliga- 
tions imposed and the power conferred upon me , 

by the Constitution. . . , 

"Zachary Taylor." 



PIEECE'S ADMINISTKATION. 

1833 TO 1837. 



THE CABINET. 



PRESIDENT: 

FRANKLIN PIERCE, New Hampshire. 

VICE-PRESIDENT: 
WILLIAM R. KING, Alabama (died 1853). 

SECRETARY OF STATE : 
1853. — William L. Marcy, New York. 

SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY: 

— James Guthrie, Kentucky. 

' SECRETARY OF WAR: 

— Jefferson Davis, Mississippi. 



i853. 
1853. 
1853 
1853 
1853 
1853. 



SECRETARY OF THE NAVY: 

— James C. Dobbin, North Carolina. 

SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR: 

— Robert McClelland, Michigan. 

POSTMASTER-GENERAL : 

— James Campbell, Pennsylvania. 

ATTORNEY-GENERAL: 

— Caleb Gushing, Massachusetts. 



CONTEMPORANEOUS ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Reign. — Victoria. 

Premier. — Earl of Aberdeen, to 1855. 
Lord Palmerston, to 1857 (and 1858). 
Dispute between Russia and Turkey. 
. War with Russia declared March 27, 1854. 
(Crimea, Alma, Balaklava, Inkermann, Sebastopol.) 
Treaty of peace signed at Paris, March 30, 1856. 
English loss, 24,000 men. 
French loss, 63,500 men. 
Russian loss, 500,000 men. 

English debt and taxes increased eighty-two million pounds sterhng. 
War between England and Persia, November to March, 1857. 

176 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 



From — 1853 to 1857. 

Duration. — One term, — four years. 

Party. —Democratic. 

rRiNCiPAii. Events. — Death of Vice-President W. R. King, April 
18, 1853. Dispute, under the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, re- 
specting boundary-lines in New Mexico. Mesilla-valley road to 
California purchased by the United States of Santa Anna, Presi- 
dent of the Republic of Mexico, for ten million dollars.' Isthmus 
of Tehuantepec Railroad arranged for. Free navigation of the 
* Gulf of California and River Colorado Included in the pur-, 
chase. Treaty concluded with Japan. Two ports opened to the 
United States by Com. Perry. Dr. Kane's second search for Sir 
John Franklin. Expeditions over the Rocky Mountains to the 
Pacific. Railway route surveyed. Koszta, the Hungarian refu- 
gee at Smj'rna, is rescued as an American citizen by Capt. Ingra- 
ham. Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, in 1854, advocates 
the Kansas-Nebraska Bill ; the people of those vast territories to 
decide for themselves the question of slavery. Messrs. Everett, 
•Sumner, Wade, Houston, and Bell, oppose it. . By the Missouri 
compromises of 1820-1821, slavery being excluded from this re- 
gion, the free States insist that it shall he forever excluded. A bill 
making void the Missouri Compromise, after a long and bitter 
contest, is passed, and signed by the President, May, 1854. Emi- 
gration to Kansas swiftly follows. " Squatter sovereignty" is es- 
tablished. Quarrels ensue. The polls are managed by armed 
men from the South. Free-States men hold conventions, and aro 
12 177 



178 Pierce's Administration. 

finally successful in forming and adopting a State government: 
but outrages are numberless, resulting in civil war in that 
territory; and their representative to Washington is rejected. 
Nathaniel P. Banks, after an exciting contest, is elected speaker 
of the Thirty-fourth Congress. In 1855-, Henry "Wilson succeeds 
Edward Everett in the Senate. In 1856, Anson Burlingame suc- 
ceeds William Appleton in the House. May 2, 1856, Charles 
Sumner is brutally assaulted in the Capitol by Brooks of South 
Carolina for words spoken in debate. The entire country is again 
aroused. William Lloyd Garrison favors the Republican party. 
Rev. Henry Ward Beccher recommends Sharp's rifles, as well as 
Bibles, for Kansas. The American party asserts that ''Ameri- 
cans shall rule America." The three candidates for the Presi- 
dency are James Buchanan, Democrat ; John C. Fremont, Re- 
publican ; Ex-President Millard Fillmore, American. James 
Buchanan is elected. 

• 

1856. — Extract from the Annual Message 
of Pres. Pierce : " Extremes beget extremes. Vio- 
lent attack from the NdVth finds its inevitable 
consequence in the growth of a spirit of angry 
defiance at the South. Thus, in the progress of 
events, we have reached that consummation, — 
which the voice of the people has now so point- 
edly rebuked, — of the attempt of a portion of the 
States, by a sectional organization and movement, 
to usurp the control of the government of the 

United States. . . . 

"Franklin Pierce." 



BUCHANAN'S ADMINISTEATION. 

1837 TO 1861. 



179 



THE CABINET. 



PRESIDENT: 

JAMES BUCHANAN, Pennsylvania. 

VICE-PRESIDENT: 
JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE, Kentucky. 

SECRETARIES OF STATE; 

1857. — Lewis Cass, Michigan. 

i860. — Jeremiah S. Black, Pennsylvania. 

SECRETARIES OF THE TREASURY: 

1857. — Howell Cobb, Georgia. 
i860.— Philip F. Thomas, Maryland. 
1861. — John A. Dix, New York. 

SECRETARIES OF WAR : 

1857. — John B. Floyd, Virginia. 
1861. — Joseph Holt, Kentucky. 

SECRETARY OF THE NAVY : 
1857. — Isaac Toucey, Connecticut. 

SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR 

1857. — Jacob Thompson, Mississippi. 

POSTMASTERS-GENERAL : 
1857. — Aaron V. Brown, Tennessee. 
1859, — Joseph Holt, Kentucky. 
1861. — Horatio King, Maine. 

ATTORNEYS-GENERAL: 
1857. — Jeremiah S. Black, Pennsylvania. 
i85o. — Edwin M. Stanton, Pennsylvania. 



CONTEMPORANEOUS ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Reign. — Victoria. 

Premier. — Lord Palmerston, to 1858. Earl of Derby, 1859. Lord 
Palmerston, 1861. 

Indian Mutiny. Chinese War. Reform Bill. 

Commercial crisis, 1857. Religious revival- 
After a struggle of eight years, Lord John Russell obtains a bill en- 
abling Jews to sit in Parliament ; and Baron Rothschild is admitted 
July 26, 1858. 

France and Austria at war from May -to July, 1859, about Austrian 
dominion in Piedmont. 

Cotton famine on account of the Rebellion in America. 
180 



JAMES BUCHANAN. 



From — March 4, 1857, to 1861. 

Duration. — One term, — four years. 

Tarty. — Democratic. 

Principal Events.— Chief Justice Taney decides, in the Dred 
Scott case, that the Missouri Compromise is unconstitutional. 
The proslavcry and antislavery parties, the former re-asserting 
that " slavery is a divinely-appointed institution," are again in- 
tensely agitated. Personal-liberty laws are passed in the free 
States to counteract the operation of the Fugitive-slave Law. 
Kansas-Nebraska matters continue vexatious beyond expres- 
sion. Entire families with Northern sentiments are massacred; 
and party-disputes are settled by the pistol and bowie-knife. 
John Brown and twenty associates, driven to desperation, on the 
night of Oct. 16, 1859, j-ashly seize the United-States arsenal at 
Harper's Ferry, Va., with a view to obtaining arms to liberate 
slaves. They are overpowered by Col. Robert E. Lee; thirteen 
being killed during the affray; two escape; and six, including 
their leader, are tried, condemned, and executed in Charleston, 
Va. Added to these distresses, commercial and financial disas- 
ters visit the great mercantile centres of the country, commen- 
cing in 1857, producing a wonderful revival of religion in New 
York and elsewhere. The Fulton-street *' Business-Men's Noon- 
day Prayer-Meeting " is organized during the crisis. New politi- 
cal questions are raised, resulting in the nomination of four dis- 
tinct party-candidates for the Presidency. The Republicans 
nominate Abraham Lincoln of Illinois. The Democrats have 

181 



1 82 Bucha7ia7i's Administration. 

two candidates; viz., Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, and John 
C. Breckinridge of Kentucky. The Union party nominate John 
Bell of Tennessee. Upon the election of Abraham Lincoln, in 
the autumn of 1860, South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Ala- 
bama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas join in secession from the 
Union; and, a few months later, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, 
and North Carolina, follow them. The first six combined form a 
confederacy of the South at Montgomery, Ala., Feb. 8, 1861j 
called the Confederate States of America ; elect Jefferson Davis 
of Mississippi, President; Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia, 
Vice-President; and, before Lincoln is inaugurated President of 
the United States, commence war upon the Fedei-al Government, 
seizing treasury-funds, munitions of war, custom-houses, ships, 
and forts, and robbing the country generally. " Sedition, privy 
conspiracy, and rebellion" rule in the South; and "confusion 
worse confounded " reigns at Washington. Treason is suspected 
everywhere ; the majority of the Buchanan cabinet resign ; 
Southern members leave their seats in Congress; and, on his 
way to the capital, Abraham Lincoln, the President-elect, is 
obliged to be attended by a body-guard. Meantime, In January, 
1861, the steamship " Star of the "West," unarmed, on her way 
with troops and provisions to Fort Sumter, in Charleston (South 
Carolina) harbor, is fired upon by a rebel battery, and forced to 
return to New York. But Lincoln is finally inaugurated Presi- 
dent. Minnesota is admitted in 1858; Oregon, in 1859; and, after 
a four-years' war, Kansas, in 1861. 

1857. — Extracts from the Inaugural Ad- 
dress : " I feel a humble confidence that the 
kind Providence which inspired our fathers with 
wisdom to frame the most perfect form of govern- 



Buchanan' s Administration. 183 

ment and union ever devised by man will not 
suffer it to perish until it shall have been peace- 
fully instrumental, by its example, in the exten- 
sion of civil and religious liberty throughout the 
world. . . . Our present financial condition is 
without a parallel in history. No nation has ever 
before been embarrassed from too large a surplus 
in^its treasury. ... It is our glory, that, while 
other nations have extended their dominions by 
the sword, we have never acquired any territory 
except by fair purchase, or, as in the case of 
Texas, by the voluntary determination of a brave, 
kindred, and independent people to blend their 
destinies with our own. Even our acquisitions 
from Mexico form no exception. Unwilling to 
take advantage of the fortune of war against a 
sister republic, we purchased these possessions, 
under the treaty of peace, for a sum which was 
considered at the time a fair equivalent. . . . Act- 
ing on this principle, no nation will have a right 
to interfere or to complain, if, in the progress of 
events, we shall still further extend our posses- 
sions. . . . "James Buchanan." 



ADMmiSTEATIOJSrS 

OF 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND ANDREW 
JOHNSON. 

1861 TO 1869. 



185 



THE CABINET. 



PRESIDENTS: 

1861. — ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Illinois. 
1865. — ANDREW JOHNSON, Tennessee. 

VICE-PRESIDENTS: 
1861. — HANNIBAL HAMLIN, Maine. 
1865. — ANDREW JOHNSON, Tennessee. 

SECRETARY OF STATE: 
1S61. — William H. Seward, New York. 
SECRETARIES OF THE TREASURY: 

i86i. — Salmon P. Chase, Ohio. 

1864. — William Pitt Fessenden, Maine. 

1865. — Hugh McCulloch, Indiana. 

SECRETARIES OF WAR: 

. 1861. — Simon Cameron, Pennsylvania. 
1861. — Edwin M. Stanton, Pennsylvania. 

1867. — Ulysses S. Grant, Illinois. 
i868. — John M. Schofield, Missouri. 

SECRETARY OF THE NAVY: 

1861. — Gideon Welles, Connecticut. 

SECRETARIES OF THE INTERIOR: 

i86i. — Caleb B. Smith, Indiana. 
1863. — John P. Usher, Indiana. 

1865. — James Harlan, Iowa. 

1866. — O. H. Browning, Illinois. 

POSTMASTERS-GENERAL: 

1861. -Montgomery Blair, Maryland. 
1864. — William Denison, Ohio. 
i8b6. — A. W. Randall, Wisconsin. 

ATTORNEYS-GENERAL: 
1861. — Edward Bates, Missouri. . 
1864. — James J Speed, Kentucky. 
1866. — Henry Stanberry, Ohio. 

1868. — William M. Evarts, New York. 



CONTEMPORANEOUS ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Reign. — Victoria. 

Premier — Lord Palmerston, to 18&5. Earl Russell, to 1866. Earl 
of Derby (3d time), to 1868. Mr. Disraeli and Mr. Gladstone, 1869. 

Death of the Prince Consort, Dec. 14, 1861. 

Prince of Wales marries Alexandra of Denmark, March 10, 1863. 

Death of Mr. Cobden, April 2, 1865. Murder of Pres. Lincoln 
announced. Unanimous addresses, expressive of sorrow and indigna- 
tion, passed in both Houses of Parliament. Death of Lord Palmer- 
ston, at eighty-one, Oct. iS. Fenian conspiracy in Ireland. 

Reform debates. Abyssinian War. Debates on the. Irish Church. 
Liberal party united under Mr. Gladstone Disestablishment of the Irish 
Church. Death of Lord Derby, Oct. 23, 1869. 
1S6 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



From — March 4, 1861, to 1869. 

Duration. — Two terms, — eight years. 

Party. — Republican. 

PRiNCiP.\t. Events. — Pres. Lincoln is inaugiirated March 4,1861. 
Gen. Scott has six hundred troops under his conamand at Wash- 
ington; but the inauguration proceeds without difficulty. Fort 
Sumter is bombarded, April 12 and 13, by Gen. Beauregard ; and 
surrenders Sunday, P.M., April 14. The President's proclama- 
tion for seventy-five thousand militia of the Union to serve three 
months under Gen. Scott is issued April 15. Senator "Wilson 
telegraphs to Gov. Andrew, who at once responds to the call. 
At sundown, four regiments of Massachusetts troops are assem- 
bled in Boston, and " the day following," says Lossing, " are on 
Boston Common, mustered in regular order, with banners flying, 
and bayonets gleaming; each company with full ranks." Five 
Pennsylvania companies, without arms, reach Washington at 
night, April 17, and, quartered in the Capitol, are warmly wel- 
comed by the administration of the United States, and members 
of the Washington Young Men's Christian Association. April 
17, tlie day on which Jeflterson Davis issues Montgomery letters 
of marque and reprisal to interfere with commerce, the Sixth 
Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers leaves Boston for Wash- 
ington. April 19, the anniversary of the battle at Lexington (April 
19, 1775), they are attacked in the streets of Baltimore : three men 
are killed outright, and one is mortally wounded. The troops 
reach Washington on the evening of the 19th, and are the first full 

187 



1 88 Li?icolns Admhiistration. 

regiment who have answered the call. Moses H. Grinnell of New 
York and Judge Crosby of Lowell, almost simultaneously and 
without confereuce, under date of April 17 and 18, issue personal 
relief subscription-papers for the soldiers and tlieir families, and 
give a hundred dollars each towards the fund : and " the women 
of Bridgeport, Conn.," says Goodrich, " met together to roll band- 
ages and prepare lint as early as April 15 ; and on the same day 
Miss Almena B. Bates of Cha-lestown, Mass., suggested similar 
philanthropic work." The Soldiers' Aid Society is organized in 
New York, April 20; also one in Cleveland, O., on the same day. 
"April 21, the ladies of Dr. Taylor's church, Philadelphia, organ- 
ize a society, and make arrangements" (says the Rev. Mr. Moss) 
*' for the preparation of bedding, bandages, lint, &c." And from 
this and kindred Ladies' Aid Societies originate the " United- 
States Christian Commission," led by George H. Stuart of Phila- 
delphia, Edward S. Tobey and Charles Demond of Boston, and J. 
v. Farwell of Chicago, and the ''United-States Sanitary Commis- 
sion," led by the Rev. Dr. Bellows of New York. Miss D. L. Dix, 
witnessing the mob at Baltimore, accompanies the Sixth Regi- 
ment to Washington, and offers her services in the welfare of the 
sick. Acting Surgeon Gen. R. C. Wood " cheerfully and thank- 
fully accepts them." Representatives from the Christian Associa- 
tions of the country, and others in all the regiments, are constantly 
visited by friends with food, garments, and thousands of dollars 
from home through the two great Commissions; who also furnish 
them with Bibles, Testaments, and tracts in large numbers. Pla- 
cards, " Sumter on Fire," " Rebels firing on the Burning Fort," and 
other hourly announcements, excite the freemen of the Republic 
to the highest enthusiasm ; and, within two weeks from the date 
of the President's proclamation, upwards of three hundred thou- 
sand men offer their services in the defence of the Union. April 
18, the arsenal at Harper's Ferry is seized by Virginia troops ; 
A pril 21, the navy-yard at Norfolk. May 16, Ex-GoV- N. P. Banks, 



Lmcoln's Administration. 189 

Benjamin F. Butler, and John A. Dix, are commissioned major- 
generals by Pres. Lincoln, George B. McClellan's and John C. 
Fremont's commissions are dated May 14, Major Anderson is 
made a Ifrigadier-general. Richmond- becomes the rebel capital. 
The first meeting of the Confederate Congress occurs July 2J, 
Meantime, in April, as preparations are being made to secure 
and repair the frigate " Pennsylvania," the '.' Columbus," " Dela- 
ware," " New York," " United States," " Columbia," " Rari- 
tan," "Plymouth," " Germantown," " Dolphin," and "Merri- 
mack," at Gosport Navy- Yard, opposite Norfolk, the entire 
fleet, through the treachery of professed loyalists, apparently 
falling into the hands of secessionists, an order is given by 
Com. McCauley to scuttle and sink ship by ship. Capt. (af- 
terwards Admiral) Paulding arrives from Washington just as 
the work is being accomplished, and orders that the ships and 
navy-yard shall be fired. Notwithstanding the immense con- 
flagration, destroying millions of property, only a portion of 
the vessels and navy-yard are burned ; and the measure proves 
in many respects a failure. The next movement of the enemy 
is an attempt to capture Washington, and proclaim Jefferson 
Davis dictator. Butler and his troops saye the frigate •' Consti- 
tution." Baltimore is under the control of secessionists. Pres. 
Lincoln says, " I must have troops for the defence of the capitaL 
The Carolinians are now marching across Virginia to seize the cap- 
ital, and hang me. What am I to do ? I must have troops, I say ; 
and as they can neither crawl under Maryland, nor fly over it, they 
must come across it." Twigg's treason in Texas having greatly 
reduced the regular army, the question is agitated respecting a 
call for volunteers as well as militia. Col. Robert E. Lee of 
Arlington is promised the position of general-in-chief of the Con- 
federate forces, and tenders his resignation as an qfllcer of the 
United States. OflScerSj both army and navy, are proving traitors ; 
and the city of Washington is not only threatened with capture. 



190 Lincoln s Administration. 



but conflagration. For several days, the President and cabinet 
are surrounded by a body-guard in the Capitol. The basement of 
the building is subsequently turned into an immense bakery, 
with arrangements for 'regular army-rations. Within ten days 
from the first proclamation and call for troops, eight thousand 
men, well armed, from New York, under direction of Gen. John 
E. Wool and the Union Defence Committee, arrive at Washington ; 
and the capital is saved from seizure. Col. Frank E. Howe vol- 
untarily receives, and handsomely entertains at his warehouse, 
New-Enghmd soldiers on their way through New York. May 4, 
a Union meeting is held at Baltimore; and the army passing 
through the city is under the protection of Gen. Butler at the 
Relay House. He afterwards. May 14, occupies the city, and 
forbids the display of secession flags, &c. Washington City 
being well garrisoned, Arlington Heights and Alexandria arc 
occupied by Federal troops ; and Gen. Butler takes command at 
Fortress Monroe, and declares escaped slaves " contraband of 
war." Major Theodore Winthrop of Butler's staff", who fell at Big 
Bethel a few days later, wrote, " An epigram abolished slavery in 
the United States." Commissioners of the Confederacy, so called, 
are now on their way to Europe to enlist the sympathy, aid, 
and recognition of foreign powers. Jeff'erson Davis's authorized 
pirates watch the commerce of the United States ; and " insurrec- 
tion becomes rebellion." June 10, an unsuccessful attack is 
made by Union troops under Butler at Big Bethel and Newport 
News. June 27, Gen. Banks issues his Baltimore proclamation, 
and arrests the marshal of police. In July, Gen. McDowell 
moves with Union troops to Manassas Junction, and meets Gen. 
Beauregard of the Southern army. The first battle of Bull Run 
is fought Sunday, July 21 ; and the Union troops, by the sudden 
and unexpected appearance of Johnston's army of the Shenan- 
doah, are panic-stricken, and driven back to Washington. This 
is the first great battle of the Rebellion. CongreBS appropriates 



Lincoln's Administration. 191 

five hundred million dollars to carry on the war, and authorizea 
the President to call for five hundred thousand men ; and Gen. 
George 'B. McClellan is called to the command of the Army of 
the Potomac. Months are spent in organizing and disciplining 
the army. The battle at Ball's Bluff is fought in October ; and 
. Union troops are again defeated. Col. (Senator) Baker of Ore- 
gon is killed. McClellan succeeds Lieut.-Gen. Winfield Scott, 
who retires from service by the infirmities of age, Nov. 1, 1861. 

[Although this is not a handbook of the naval 
and military operations of the United States, we 
shall give details of battles from various histories, 
as far as space will permit.] 

1861. — Turning from the eastern to the western section of the 
country, we find, that commencing with the nomination of Lincoln, 
whose home is Springfield, 111., thousands of liberty-loving people are 
educating themselves for the impending crisis; and, upon the sur- 
render of Sumter, tens of thousands, afterwards hundreds of thou- 
sands, are preparing to move for the protection of Washington 
and the Republic. As early as Jan. 12, the Legislature of Ohio 
passes a series of resolutions denouncing'the secession movement. 
In April, George B. McClellan, Superintendent of the Ohio and 
Mississippi Railroad, is commissioned a major-general of all the 
forces of that State; and Camp Dennison is established. In March, 
Gov. Morton of Indiana is preparing for action ; and, finally, two 
hundred thousand troops are sent to the war. Gov. Yates of Illinois 
calls for an extra session of the legislature, April 23; and thousands 
of men are at once at C^liro and the confluence of the Ohio and the 
Mississippi Rivers. Stephen A. Douglas denounces treason, and 
works for. the Union like a true patriot; but, on the 3d of June, he 
Ls removed from earthly labors. Millions of money, and thousands 



192 • Lincoln's Administration. 

of troops, arc freely offered by the legislatures of the above States, 
and Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and others combined. 
"Western Virginia is truly loyal ; but Missouri and Kentucky are 
temporarily wanting. Returning to the Potomac, we find Ells- 
worth's Zouaves at Alexandria May 23. Their noble commander is 
shot dead by Jackson of the Marshall House. Again the country is 
determined to put down treason. A regiment Is formed in New 
York, called " Ellsworth's Avengers." Dr. Russell, correspondent 
of "The London Times," constantly predicts the success of the reb- 
els. The great agitation of the day is to Capture Richmond ; and 
" Forward to Richmond ! " is the war-cry. Col. Dury^a of New York 
is assigned the command of Camp Etamilton. June 4, the position is 
given to Brig.-Gen. Price of Massachusetts. Magruder abandons 
his flag, and becomes a Confederate general : this, too, after he had 
said to President Lincoln, "Everyone else may desert you; but / 
never will.'' Gen. Butler leaves Forti-ess Monroe Aug. 18. Col. 
"Wallace is victorious" in l?'orth-"Wo8tern "Virginia. Rosecrans suc- 
ceeds McCIellan in the Shenandoah, July, 1861, at Beverly and Rich 
Mountain, and continues successful attempts to clear "West Virginia 
of rebels. McCIellan conducts a rout at Carrick's Ford. Turning 
again westward, we find Missouri and Kentucky divided in council. 
Gov. Jackson of Missouri is a persistent rebel; while a majority of 
the citizens are loyal. Gen. John Pope is in North Missouri. Capt. 
Lyon holds the arsenal for the Union, captures Confederate troops, 
and puts the governor to flight. A battle is fought on Wilson's 
Creek, Aug. 10; and Gen. Lyon is killed. Another disastrous bat- 
tle is fought in September. Gen. Fremont, commander of the West- 
ern Department, takes the field in person, proclaims martial law, 
and declares the slaves of rebels free ; but soon after, in November, 
turns over the command to Gen. Hunter. Subsequently, Gen. 
Henry W. Halleck is appointed to the same department. In No- 
vember, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, with three thousand men, goes 
down the river from Cairo, and attacks Belmont, Mo. : they are 



I 



Lincoln's Administration. 193 



obliged to return to Cairo. Kentucky is, by majority, loyal to the 
Union; but secessionists keep her neutral. In September, rebel 
Gen. Polk invades the State, and seizes Columbus. Gen. Grant, 
entering, takes possession of Paducah ; and Kentucky soon decides 
for the Union. The Confederates concentrate at Bowling Green; 
but Federal armies drive them southward. The naval and military 
expeditions of 1861 are under the command of Commodore String- 
ham, Gen. Butler, Commodore Dupont, and Gen. T. W. Sherman. 
The first, in August, captures Hatteras Inlet, N.C. ; and the second, 
Port Royal, S.C. By these and other means, the entire Southern 
coast is completely blockaded. The principal Confederate cruiser 
of the year is the steamer " Sumter," Capt. Semmes. She is left at 
Gibraltar; her officers proceeding to England for a better steamship 
("The Alabama"). Both England and France recognize the Con- 
federacy as a belligerent power, an established government; and, in 
the " Trent" affair, England threatens war against the United States 
unless Ex-Senators Mason and Slidell (Confederate commissioners 
taken by Capt. Wilkes and Lieut. Fairfax of " The San Jacinto " 
from the British steamer "Trent," near Cuba, Nov. 8, and sent 
to Fort Warren, Boston harbor) are handed over to the British 
Government. Although British precedents are all in favor of re- 
taining them (and the ship too), Pres. Lincohi, who from the first 
regretted the capture, says with Sumner, " Let them go; " and they 
are duly liberated Russia stands by the Union. 

1863. — The strength of the United-States army, Jan. 1, 1862, is 
five hundred and seventy-five thousand men, — two hundred thou- 
sand at Washington, under McClellan; two hundred thousand in 
Kentucky, under Grant, Halleck, and Buell ; a hundred and seventy- 
five thousand scattered throughout South Carolina, Fortress Mon- 
roe, the Lower Potomac, the Upper Potomac, Western Virginia, &c., 
under Gens. Sherman, Wool, Banks, Hooker, Kelley, and Rosecraus. 
The strength of the Confederate Army is about three hundred and 
fifty thousand, increased by conscription. During the year, slavery 
13 



194 Lincoln's Administration. 

is prohibited in the Territories of the United States and the Dii-trict 
of Cohimbia. Colored troops are enlisted in the army, and a " test 
oath " is demanded. A few troops are raised by draft. 

Jan. 19. — A victory is gained by Federal troops, under Gen. 
George H. Thomas, at Mill Spring, on the Mississippi. 

Feb. 5. — Fort Henry, on the Tennessee, captured by Com. Foote. 

Feb. 16. — Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland, bombai-ded three 
days, surrenders to Grant. Sixteen thousand prisoners taken. 

Bowling Green and Columbus are evacuated. 

Nashville, Tenn., is occupied by Federal Gen. Nelson. 

Andrew Johnson is appointed military governor of Tennessee. 

Gen. Grant, with forty thousand men, meets Gens. Albert Syd- 
ney Johnston and Beauregard, who also have forty thousand; and a 
a desperate battle is fought at Shiloh, the Confederates retreating to 
Corinth, Miss. 

Two French princes of the House of Orleans, the Comte de Paris 
and the Due de Chartres, visiting the capital with their uncle the 
Prince de Joinville, son of the late Louis Philippe, King of the 
French, are staff-officers under Gen. McClellan from November, 
1861, to July, 1862. 

In July, Gen. Halleck is appointed commander-in-chief of the 
Federal army. 

Confederate Gens. Van Dorn and Price attempt the capture of 
Corinth, held by Grant and Rosecrans. They are unsuccessful, and 
lose more than ten thousand men. Union loss about three thousand. 

Gen. Buell opposes Bragg in East Tennessee, and holds Nash- 
ville and Louisville, Ky. 

Gen. Ivirby Smith enters Lexington, and in September threatens 
Cincinnati, O. 

Guerillas, under Morgan and Forrest, are scattered throughout 
Kentucky, Tennessee, and Indiana. Soon after the defeat at Cum- 
berland Gap, Gen. Buell is superseded by Gen. Rosecrans, who 
gains a victory over Bragg, near Murfreesborough, Dec. 31. 



Lincoln s Administration. 195 

West of the Mississippi, the Federals, under Slgol, are victorious 
at Pea Ridge in March, 1862. 

April 7. — Island No. 10, after tliree weeks' cannonading, surren- 
ders to Gen. Pope and Com. Foote; and Pope returns to Corinth. 

Memphis falls, and the Mississippi is open to Vickshurg. 

Gens. Grant and William T. Sherman make an unsuccessful at- 
tack on Vickshurg; one of the Federal garrisons having disgrace- 
fully surrendered. Admiral Farragut, with his fleet, runs the gantlet 
of the forts below New Orleans. Rear- Admiral Porter captures that 
city. B. F. Butler takes military possession, and confiscates the prop- 
erty of the disloyal. The fleet and admirals, proceeding up the river, 
capture Baton Rouge and Natchez, encounter the rebel ram " Ar- 
kansas," pass the batteries at Vickshurg, and join the Union fleet 
above. Gen. Banks succeeds Gen. Butler at New Orleans. Pensa- 
cola, Fla., is evacuated May 9; Galveston in October, afterwards 
recaptured by Texans. The Port-Royal expedition captures Fer- 
nandina and other Florida ports; and Fort Pulaski surrenders to 
Gen. Hunter, who issues a proclamation of freedom. 

Early in 1862, Gen. Buruside and Com. Goldsborough set sail 
from Fortress Monroe for Roanoke Island, which is duly taken, 
also other places on the North-Carolina coast; Newbern, March 14; 
Beaufort on the 25th ; Fort Macon, April 25, The memorable fight 
between the rebel ram "Merrimack" and Ericsson's little "Moni- 
tor " occurs in Hampton Road March 8. " The Merrimack " is 
driven back to Norfolk, and the Union fleet is saved. 

In Virginia, February, 1862, Gen. Lauder is successful on the 
Potomac; and Gen. N. P." Banks drives Stonewall Jackson up 
the Valley of the Shenandoah. Gen. Shields wins at Winchester. 
McClellan takes possession of Manassas March 10, and on the 11th is 
relieved as general-in-chief, and conducts the Army of the Potomac. 

Gen. Fremont takes command of troops in West Virginia and 
Tennessee; Gen. Banks, of those in the Shenandoah; and Gen. 
McDowell, of those on the Rappahannock. McClellan, with a hun- 



iqS Lincoln s Administration. 

dred thousand men, commences his Peninsular campaign towards 
Richmond via Alexandria, FortrcBs Monroe, the James and York 
Rivers. Yorktown is evacuated ; also Williamsburg. Gen. Wool 
takes possession of Norfolk in May. Union gunboats repulsed at 
Fort Darling. McClellan reaches White House on the Pamunkey, 
and holds Chickahominy, near Seven Pines and Fair Oaks. Rebel 
Gen. Johnston, being wounded, is relieved by Robert E. Lee, who 
becomes Richmond's defender. Gen. McClellan relies upon re-en- 
forcements from McDowell's array, near Fredericksburg; and Gen. 
Fitz John Porter is stationed at Hanover Court House. Stonewall 
Jackson, re-enforced to twenty thousand men, is ordered to attack 
the army under Gen. Banks, at Strasburg, of less than six thousand. 
Washington is threatened, and McDowell is compelled to return. 
Jackson joins Lee before Richmond; and another month is lost by 
McClellan, who transfers his army to the banks of the James. The 
Confederates are repulsed at Malvern Hill, July 1, after several terri- 
ble battles known as " Seven Days before Richmond." McClellan 
holds Harrison's Landing, and Lee returns to the rebel capital. The 
Army of Virginia is placed under Gen. Pope. Fremont resigns. In 
July, Gen. Halleck becomes general-in-chief of the Union army. 
Lee commences operations against Pope at Cedar Mountain, Aug. 9. 
Pope moves to the Rapidan, thence to the Rappahannock. On the 
26th, Jackson enters Thoroughfare Gap, and cuts off Pope's rail- 
road-connection with Washington. Gen. Hooker meets Confederate 
troops at Kettle Run under Gen. Ewell; and battles are fought at 
Manassas, Groveton, Bull Run, and Chantilly. Federal Gens. Ste- 
vens and Kearny are killed. The Union troops return to Washing- 
ton. Gen. Pope resigns ; and the army is placed under the command 
of McClellan for the defence of the capital. Gen. Lee, flushed with 
success, crosses the Potomac to enter Maryland. McClellan over- 
takes him near the Cumberland Valley, at South Mountain, and 
drives him across the mountain. Sept. 15, Harper's Ferry sur- 
renders to Jackson, who Immediately joins Lee at Antietam Creek 



Lincoln s Administration. 197 

and Sharpsburg. Sept. 17, the great battle of Antietam is fought, 
and Lee is forced to recross the Potomac. In November, McClellan 
surrenders his command to Gren. Burnside; and Burnside, through 
no fault of his, Is unsuccessful in an attempt to capture Richmond 
by Fredericksburg. He is subsequently appointed to the command 
of the Department of the Ohio. 

E5IAXCIPATI0X PROCLAMATIOX, JAX. 1, 1863. 

Whereas, on the twenty-second day of Sep- 
tember, in the year of our Lord one thousand 
eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was 
issued by the President of the United States, 
containing among other things the following; to 
wit, "That on the first day of January, in the 
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 
sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any 
State, or designated part of a State, the people 
whereof shall then be in rebellion against the 
United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and 
forever free ; and the Executive Government of the 
United States, including the military and naval 
authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the 
freedom of such persons, and will do no act or 
acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in 
any efforts they may make for their actual free- 
dom : that the Executive will, on the first day of 



198 Lincoln's Administration. 

January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the 
States, and parts of States, if any, in which the 
people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebel- 
lion against the United States ; and the fact that 
any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day 
be in good faith represented in the Congress of 
the United States by members chosen tliereto at 
elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters 
of such States shall have participated, shall, in the 
absence of strong countervailing testimony, be 
deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and 
the people thereof, are not then in rebellion 
against the United States : " — 

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President 
of the United States, by virtue of the jDower in 
me vested as commander-in-chief of the army and 
navy of the United States in time of actual armed 
rebellion against the authority and government 
of the United States, and as a fit and necessary 
war-measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on 
this first day of January, in the year of our Lord 
one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and 
in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly 
proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days 



Lincoln's Administration. 199 

from the day first above mentioned, order and desig- 
nate as the States, and parts of States, wherein the 
people thereof, respectively, are this day in rebellion 
against the United States, the following. — to wit, 
Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes 
of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, 
St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, 
Terre-Bonne, Lafourche, Ste. Marie, St. Martin, 
and Orleans, including the city of New Orleans), 
Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South 
Carolina, Korth Carolina, and Virginia (except 
the forty-eight counties designated as West Vir- 
ginia, and also the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, 
Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess An- 
na, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk 
and Portsmouth), — and which excepted parts are, 
for the present, left precisely as if this proclama- 
tion were not issued. And by virtue of the power, 
and for the purpose aforesaid, \ do order and de- 
clare, that all persons held as slaves within said 
designated States, and parts of States, are and 
henceforward shall be free ; and that the Execu- 
tive Government of the United States, including 
the military and naval authorities thereof, will 



200 Lincoln's Administratio7i. 

recognize and maintain the freedom of said per- 
sons. And I hereby enjoin upon the people so 
declared to be free to abstain from all violence, 
unless in necessary self-defence ; and I recommend 
to them, that in all cases, when allowed, they labor 
faithfully for reasonable wages. And I further 
declare and make known, that such persons, of 
suitable condition, will be received into the armed 
service of the United States, to garrison forts, posi- 
tions, stations, and other places, and to man ves- 
sels of all sorts in said service. And upon this 
act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, war- 
ranted by the Constitution upon military neces- 
sity, I invoke the considerate judgment of man- 
kind and the gracious favor of Almighty God. 
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my 
name, and caused the seal of the United 
States to be affixed. — Done at the city of 
Washington, this first day of January, in the 
year of our Lord one thousand eight huiidred 
and sixty-three, and of the independence of 
the United States the eighty-seventh. 

Abkaham Lincoln. 

By the Presulent: 

Wii.LiAM H Seward *Src4:r-c/a;-v/ (/ 5iaie. 



Lincoln's Administration. 201 

1863. — PRrxcrPAL Events. — Gov. Andrew of Massachusetts 
takes the initiative in raising colored regiments in the free States. 
Gen. Banks, commanding the Department of the Gulf, orders that 
a whole army-corps be raised, eighteen regiments, to be called 
the " Corps d'Afrique." In Virginia, Gen. Ilooker supersedes 
Bumside in command of the Army of the Potomac, and is 
badly beaten at Chancellorsville, in May, by Lee. Gen. Meade 
supersedes Hooker, and overcomes Lee at Gettysburg July 1; 
and, July 4, Gen. Pemberton at Vicksburg surrenders to Gen. 
Grant. The country is filled with rejoicing. "Independence 
Day receives a new consecration." July 8, Gen. Gardner at 
Port Hudson surrenders to Gen. Banks. The Mississippi is opened 
its entire length, and the Confederacy is rent asunder. Other bat- 
tles occur during the year, at Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Knoxville, 
&c. Three hundred thousand men are drafted. Uiot in New York 
July 13. West Virginia admitted. A frightful massacre is perpe- 
trated at Lawrence, Kan. The prominent rebel privateers of the 
year are "The Alabama "and "Florida." 

1864. — The expedition to Meridan, the Fort-Pillow massacre, 
Red-River expedition, and Federal defeat at Olustee, Fla., occur be- 
tween January and April. In March, 1364, Gen. Grant is placed in 
command of all the armies of the Union, with the rank of lieutenant- 
general. In May, he crosses the Rapidaa with the army of the Poto- 
mac ; and the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna, 
Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and Richmond, follow in quick succes- 
sion. Gen. Sheridan drives the enemy from Maryland. Great 
victory at Winchester, — "twenty miles away." "In October," 
says Campbell, " the victory at Cedar Creek closes the war in the 
Shenandoah Valley." 

Gen. William T. Sherman, May 6, commences a campaign result- 
ing in his famous "march to the sea;'' and terrific battles are 
fought at Chattanooga, Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountains, At- 
lanta. For* McAllieter, and Savannah, Qa. The privateer "Ala- 



202 Lincoln s Administration. 

bama " is sunk in the English Channel by the " Kearsarge," Capt. 
Winslow commanding. In August, Admiral Farragut wins a 
brilliant victory in Mobile Bay. Nevada is admitted. Abraham 
Lincoln is re-elected President. 

I%65. — Jan. 15. Fort Fisher, N.C., surrenders to Admiral Por- 
ter and Gen. Terry. In February, Gen. Sherman takes Columbia, 
S.C Charleston is abandoned; and, on the 18th, Gilmore raises 
the stars and stripes over Fort Sumter. Gen. Canby and Admiral 
Thatcher take Mobile in April. Gen. Wilson is fighting in Alaba- 
ma, Gen. Stoneman in South-western Virginia and North Carolina. 
Gen. Sheridan captures Early's army in the Shenandoah Valley, 
destroys the Richmond canal and railroad, and joins the army at 
Petersburg. March 9, Gen. Grant makes a final movement. April 1, 
Sheridan defeats Lee at Five-Forks Cross-Roads. April 2, Grant 
captures Petersburg; and, April 3, Richmond. April 9, Lee sur- 
renders to Grant near Appomattox Court House. The loyal North 
is wild with enthusiasm. But, April 14, Pres. Lincoln is assassinated 
by a bold desperado named John Wilkes Booth ; the Hon. William 
H. Seward, Secretary of State, is stabbed by another assassin; and 
the joy of the free States is soon hushed in deepest sorrow. 

1 865. — March 4. Extract from the hast In- 
augural Address of Pres. Lincoln : " With malice 
toward none, with charity for all, with firmness 
in the right as God gives us to see the right, let 
us strive on to finish the work we are in ; to bind 
up the nation's wounds ; to care for him who shall 
have borne the battle, and for his widow and his 
orphans ; to do all which may achieve and cherish 
a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and 
with all nations. ^'- Abraham Lincoln." 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 



1865. — April 15. Andrew Johnson, Vice-President, takes the 
oath as Fresident. Gen. Johnston surrenders to Sherman. The 
assassin Booth, captured in a barn, refuses to surrender, and is shot. 
Other conspirators are hanged or imprisoned. Three hundred thou- 
sand Union men, and as many more Confederates, have been sacri- 
ficed to the Rebellion ; hundreds of thousands are wounded ; and 
the four-years' war is closed. Number of men fuifiished on both 
Bides, from April, 1861, to June, 1865, 2,666,999. National Debt, 
$2,750,000,000. 

Disagreements between Congress and the new President re- 
specting the reconstruction of States recently in rebellion. Congress 
is pronounced by the President an illegal body, and its measures 
are repeatedly vetoed. Slavery is declared abolished by a three- 
fourths vote of the States. A Freedman's Bureau is established 
at Washington, under the charge of Gen. Howard. Jefferson 
Davis is captured, disguised in a woman's cloak and shawl, and sent 
to Fortress Monroe. The Southern Confederacy is at aa end. 

1866. — The Republican President affiliates with the Democratic 
party. Cabinet officers resign. Second Freedman's-Bureau Bill 
passed over the President's veto. Tennessee returns to the Union 
July 23. Emperor Louis Napoleon advises the United States that 
the French troops in Mexico, under Emperor Maximilian, are to be 
immediately withdrawn. Cyrus W. Field succeeds in laying the 
Atlantic cable between Europe and America. Telegraphic commu- 
nication established. 

203 



204 Johnson's Administration. 

1867. — By a two-thirds vote of both houses, Congress over- 
rules the President's veto of the Reconstruction Bill, also the 
Tenure-of-oflice Bill and the District-of-Columbia Elective-Fran- 
chise Bill. All persons are now permitted to vote, Without dis- 
tinction of race or color. The loyal people sustain Congress, and 
denounce the President. In consequence of further vetoes of 
important measures, Mr. Ashley of Ohio moves the immediate im- 
peachment of the President. The resolution is adopted, 137 to SS; 
forty-five not voting. Nebraska is admitted as a State. A na- 
tional bankruptcy-law is passed. Alaska is purchased of Russia for 
seven million two hundred thousand dollars, gold. 

1868. — Jan. 13. By vote of the Senate, Mr. Stanton returns to 
the Department of War, after temporary suspension by the Presi- 
dent. 

Feb. 21. — The President removes Mr, Stanton, and appoints Gen. 
Lorenzo Thomas ad interim. Congress objects, and Mr, Stanton 
remains, Feb. 22, the House votes, 126 to 47, that " Andrew John- 
son, President of the United States, be impeached of high crimes 
and misdemeanors;" and articles of impeachment are accepted 
March 2. The Senate is convened as a court for the trial of the 
President, March 5; Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase presiding. Post- 
ponements follow. The trial commences March 30, and the case 
is submitted to the Senate May 6. On the 26th, the I'resident is 
acquitted Mr, Stanton resigns as Secretary of War, The Four- 
teenth Amendment to the Constitution is adopted by the necessary 
number of State legislatures, and the Fifteenth is suggested. The 
Pacific Railroad is in course of completion. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant 
is inaugurated President of the United States, and Schuyler Colfax 
Vice-President, March 4, 1869. 



GRANT'S ADMINISTEATION. 

1869 TO 1875, 



THE CABINET. 



PRESIDENT: 

ULYSSES S. GRANT, Illinois. 

VICE-PRESIDENT: 

SCHUYLER COLFAX, Indiana. 

SECRETARY OF STATE: 

869. — Hamilton Fish, New York. 

SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY: 

869. — George S. Boutwell, Massachusetts. 

SECRETARIES OF WAR: 

869. — John A. Rawlins, Illinois. 
869. — William W. Belknap, Iowa. 

SECRETARIES OF THE NAVY: 

869. — Adolphe E. Borie, Pennsylvania. 

869. — George W. Robeson, New Jersey. 

SECRETARIES OF THE INTERIOR: 

869. — J. D. Cox, Ohio. 

870. — Columbus Delano, Ohio. 

POSTMASTER-GENERAL : 
869. — John A, J. Creswell, Maryland. 
ATTORNEYS-GENERAL: 

869. — Ebenezer R. Hoar, Massachusetts. 

870. — Amos T. Akerman, Georgia. 



CONTEMPORANEOUS ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Reign. — Victoria. 
Premier. — Mr. Gladstone. 

Death of Lord Derby, Oct. 23, and George Peabody, Nov. 4, 1869. 
Charles Dickens died June 9, 1870. 

War between France and Prussia from July, 1870, to March, 1871. 

206 



APPENDIX. 



207 



Appendix. 209 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, 
From 1774 to 1788. 

Peyton Randolph Virginia September 5, 1774. 

Henry Middleton South Carolina October 22, 1774. 

Peyton Randolph Virginia May 10, 1775. 

John Hancock Massachusetts May , 24, 1775. 

Henry Laurens South Carolina November 1, 1777. 

John Jay New York December 10, 1778. 

Samuel Huntington. . . .Connecticut September 28, 1779. 

Thomas McKean Delaware July 10, 1781. 

John Hanson Maryland November 5, 1781. 

Elias Boudinot New Jersey November 4, 1782. 

Thomas Mifflin Pennsylvania November 3, 1783. 

Richard Henry Lee Virginia November 30, 1784. 

Nathaniel Gorham Massachusetts June 6, 1786. 

Arthur St. Clair Pennsylvania February 2, 1787. 

Cyrus Griffin '... .Virginia January 22, 1788. 

♦ 

American Independence declared July 4, 1776. 

Articles of Confederation adopted July 9, 1778. 

The ConstUuUon of the United States teas ratified by the original 
thirteen States as foUows t — 

Delaware December 7,1787. 

Pennsylvania December 12, 1787. 

New Jersey December 18, 1787. 

Georgia January 2,1788. 

Connecticut January 9, 1788. 

Massachusetts February 6, 1788. 

Maryland April 28,1788. 

South Carolina May 23, 1788. 

New Hampshire 4""^ 21, 1788. 

Virginia June 26, 1788. 

New York July 26,1788. 

North Carolina November 21,1789. 

Rhode Island May 29,1790. 

14 



2IO 



Appendix. 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES, 
From 1789 to 1871. 



Name. 


Born. 


Died. 


Age 


George Washington, 


Va., 1732, 


Mt. Vernon, 


1799, 


67 


John Adams, 


Mass., 1735, 


Quincy, July 4 


, 1826, 


91 


Thomas Jefferson, 


Va., 1743, 


Monticello, July 4 


, 1826, 


83 


James Madison, 


Va., 1751, 


Montpelier, 


1836, 


85 


James Monroe, 


Va., 1758, 


New York, July 4 


, 1831, 


73 


John Quincy Adams, 


Mass., 1767, 


Washington, 


1848, 


81 


Andrew Jackson, 


N.C., 1767, 


Hermitage, Tenn., 


1845, 


78 


Martin Van Buren, 


N.Y., 1782, 


Kinderhook, 


1862, 


80 


"Wm. Henry Harrison, 


Va., 1773. 


Washington, 


1841, 


68 


John Tyler, 


Va., 1790, 


Richmond, 


1862, 


72 


James K. Polk, 


N.C., 1795, 


Nashville, Tenn., 


1849, 


54 


Zachary Taylor, 


Va., 1784, 


Washington, 


1850, 


66 


Millard Fillmore, 


N.Y., 1800, 








Franklin Pierce, 


N.H. 1804, 


Concord, 


1869, 


65 


James Buchanan, 


Penn., 1791, 


Wheatland, 


1868, 


77 


Abraham Lincoln, 


Ky., 1809, 


Washington, 


1865, 


56 


Ajidrew Johnson, 


N.C., 1808, 








Ulysses S. Grant, 


Ohio, 1822, 









Appendix. 211 



SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 
From 1789 to 1871. 



1st Congress, F. A. Muhlenberg Pennsylvania. 

2cl " Jonathan Trumbull Connecticut. 

3d " F.A.Muhlenberg Pennsylvania. 

4th " Jonathan Dayton New Jersey. 

\ George Dent Maryland. 



6th " Theodore Sedgwick Massachusetts. 

7th " Nathaniel ^acon North Carolina. 

8th " " ;: 

9th ** " .«^' 

10th " Joseph B. VaifUPR. Massachusetts. 

nth " " " " 

12th " Henry Clay Kentucky. 



icon . . . . , 



■^^*^ " i Langdon Cheves South Carolina. 

14th ^' Henry Clay. .^ Kentucky. 

15th " " " " 

'^^^^ " i John W. Taylor New York. 

17th " P.P.Barbour Virginia. 

18th. " Henry Clay Kentucky. 

19th " John W. Taylor New York. 

20th " Andrew Stevenson Virginia. 

21st " " " " 

22d " " " " 

23(1 << } 

( Henry Hubbard New Hampshire. 

24th '' John Bell Tennessee, t 

25th " JamesK.Polk •. " 

26th " " " " " 

27th '« R.M.T. Hunter Virginia. 

r John White Kentucky. 

28th " -I John W. Jones Virginia. 

[ George W. Hopkins " 

29th " John W. Davis Indiana. 



212 



Appendix, 



30th Congress 



3l8t 

32d 
33d 
34th 
35th 
36th 
37th 
38th 
39th 
40th 
41st 
42d 



Robert C. "Wirithrop Massachusetts. 

Arraested Burt South Carolina. 

Howell Cobb Georgia. 

Linn Boyd Kentucky. 

Nathaniel P. Banks Massachusetts. 

James L. Orr South Carolina. 

William Pennington New Jersey. 

Galusha A. Grow Pennsylvania. 

Schuyler Colfax Indiana. 

James G. Blaine Maine. 



CHIEF JUSTICES OF THE UNITED-STATES SUPREME 
COURT, 1789-1871. 



John Jay. New York September 

John Rutledge South CaroUna July 

(Ratification refused by the Senate.) 
"William Cushing Massachusetts Januaiy 

(Appointment declined.) 

Oliver Ellsworth Connecticut March 

John Jay .New York December 

(Appointment declined.) 

John Marshall Virginia January 

Roger B. Taney Maryland December 

Salmon P. Chase Ohio December 



26, 1789. 
1, 1795. 

27, 1796. 

4, 1796. 
19, 1800. 

31, 1801. 

28, 1835. 

6, 1864. 



Appendix. 



213 



ADMINISTRATIONS FINANCIALLY. 

OFFICIAL FIGUBES OF THE EXPORTS, IMPORTS, EX- 
PENDITURES, AND DEBT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Wasbington's Administration. 



John Adams's Administration. 



Jefferson's Administration. 



Madison's Administration. 



Year. 


Exports. 


Imports. 


Expenditures. 


Debt. 


1789 


$20,*205,i56 
19,012,041 








1790 


$23,000,000 
29,2 0,000 




1791 


$7,207,539 


$75,463,476 


1792 


20,753,098 


31,500,000 


9,141.569 


77,227,924 


1793 


26,109,572 


31.000,000 


7,529,575 


80 ,.352.634 


1794 


33.026,233 


34,600,000 


9,302J24 


78,427,400 


1795 


47,989,473' 


69,756,268 


10,405,069 


80,747,587 


1796 


67,064.097 


81,436,164 


8,367,776 


83,762,172 



1797 


56,850,206 


75,379,406 


8,626,012 


82,064,479 


1798 


61,527,0117 


68,551,700 


8,613,507 


79,228.529 


1799 


78,665,522 


79,089,148 


11,077,043 


78,408,669 


1800 


70,970,780 


■91,252,768 


11,989,739 


82,976,291 



1801 


94,115,925 


111,363,511 


12,273,376 


82,038,050 


1802 


72.483,160 


76,333,333 


13,276,084 


80,712,032 


1803 


55,800,038 


64,666,666 


11,258,983 


77,054,686 


1804 


77,699,074 


185,000,000 


12,624,646 


86.427,120 


1805 


95,566,021 


120,600,000 


13,727,124 


82,312.150 


1806 


101,536,963 


129,410,000 


15,070,093 • 


75,723,270 


1807 


108,343.151 


1.38,500,000 


11.292.292 


69.218,398 


1808 


22,430,960 


56,990 000 


16,764,584 


65,196,317 



1809 


52,203,333 


59,400,000 


13,867,226 


57,023,192 


1810 


66,657,970 


85.4C6.000 


13,.319.986 


53,178,217 


1811 


61.316.883 


53,400,000 


13,601.808 


48,005,587 


1812 


■ 38,527,236 


77,030,000 


22,279,121 


45,209,737 


1813 


27,855,927 


22.005,000 


39,190,520 


55,962,827 


1814 


6.927,441 


12.965,000 


38,028,230 


81,487.846 


1815 


52,557,753 


113,041,274 


39,582,493 


99,833,060 


1816 


81,920,452 


147,103,000 


48,244,495 


127,334,933 



214 



Appendix. 



Monroe's Administration. 



Year. 


Exports. 


Imports. 


Expenditures. 


Debt. 


1817 


$87,671,560 


$99,250,000 


$40,877,646 


$123,491,965 


1818 


93,281,133 


121,750,000 


35,164,875 


103,466,633 


1819 


70,141,501 


87,125,000 


24,004,] 99 


95,529,648 


1820 


69,661,669 


74,450,000 


21,763,024 


91,015.566 


1821 


64,974,382 


62,585,724 


19,090,572 


89,987,427 


1822 


72,160,281 


83.241,541 


17,676,592 


93,546,678 


1823 


74,699,030 


77,579,267 


15,314.171 


90,875.877 


1824 


75,986,657 


89.549,007 


31,898,538 


90,269,777 



John Qiiincy Adams's Administration. 



1825 


99,535.388 


96,340,075 


23.585,804 


83,788,432 


1826 


77,595,322 


84,974,477 


24,103,398 


81,0.54,059 


1S27 


82,324,727 


79,484 068 


22,656,764 


73,987.357 


1828 


72,264,686 


88,509,824 


25,459,479 


67,475,043 



Jackson's Administration. 



1829 


72,358,671 


74.492,527 


25,044,3.58 


58,421,413 


1830 


73,849,508 


70,876,920 


24,585,281 


48,565,406 


1831 


81,310,583 


103,191.124 


30.038,440 


39.124,191 


1832 


87,176,943 


101,029,266 


34,356,698 


24,322,235 


1833 


90,140,443 


108,118,311 


24,257,298 


7,001,032 


1834 


104,336,973 


126,521,332 


24.601,982 


4,760,081 


1835 


121,693,577 


149,895,742 


27,573,141 


351,289 


1836 


128,663,040 


189,980,085 


30,934,664 


291,089 



Van Buren's Administration. 



1837 


117,419,376 


140,989,217 


37.265,037 


1.878,223 


1838 


108,486,016 


113,717,404 


39,455,438 


4,857,660 


1839 


121,088,410 


162,092,132 


37,614,936 


11,983,737 


1840 


132,085,936 


107,641,519 


28,226,553 


5,125,077 



Harrison and Tylei-'s Administration. 



1841 


121,851,803 


127,946,177 


31,787,530 


6,737,398 


1842 


104,691,531 


100,152.087 


32,936,876 


15,028,486 


1843* 


84,346,480 


64,753,799 


12,118,105 


27,203,450 


1844 


111,200,046 


108,435,035 


33,642,010 


24,748,188 



Polk's Administration. 



1845 


114,646,606 


117,254,564 


30,490,408 


17.093,794 


1846 


113,488,516 


121,691,797 


27,632,282 


16,750,926 


1847 


158,648,622 


146,545,638 


60,520,851 


38,926,623 


1848 


154,032,131 


154,998,928 


60,655,143 


48,526,879 



* To June 30. 



Appendix. 



215 



Taylor and Fillmore's Administration. 



Year. 


Exports. 


Imports. 


Expenditures. 


Debt. 


1849 
1850 
1851 
1852 


$145,755,820 
151,898,790 
218,388,011 
209,658,366 


$147,857,439 
178,138,318 
216,224,932 
212,945,442 


$56,386,422 
44,604,718 
48,476,104 
46,712,608 


$64,704,693 
64,228,238 
62,560,395 
65,130,692 



Pierce's Administration. 



1853 


230,976,157 


267,978,647 


54,577,061 


67s340,628 


1854 


278,241,064 


. 304,562,381 


75,473,119 


47,242,206 


1855 


275,158,846 


261.468,520 


66,164.775 


39,969,731 


1856 


326,964,908 


314,639.943 


72,726,341 


30,963,900 



Buchanan's Administration. 



1857 


362,960,608 


360,890,141 


71.274,587 


29.060,386 


1858 


324,644,421 


282,613,150 


82,062,186 


44.910,777 


1859 


356,789,461 


338,768,130 


83.678,643 


58,754,699 


1860 


400,122,296 


302,162,541 ■ 


77,055,125 


64,769,703 



Lincoln's Administratiqn. 



1861 


243,971,277 


286,598,135 


85,387,313 


90,867,828 


1862 


229,938,985 


275,357,051 


570,841,700 


514,211,371 


1863 


322,359,254 


252,919,920 


805,796,630 


1,098,796,181 


1864 


301,984,561 


329,562,895 


1,298,144,656 


1,740,690,489 



Johnson's Administration. 



1865 


336,697,123 


234,339,810 


1,897,674,224 


2,682,593,026 


1866 


550,684,299 


445,512,158 


1,I41,072.B66 


2,783,425,879 


1867 


438,577,312 


411,733,309 


1,093,079,655 


2,692,199,215 


1868 


454,301,713 


373,409,448 


1,009,889,970 


2,636,320,964 



2l6 



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Appendix. 2 1 /' 



TREASURY DEPARTMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 
Secretaries from 1789 to 1869. 

1789. Alexander Hamiltou New York. 

1795. Oliver Wolcott, jun Connecticut. 

1800. Samuel Dexter Massachusetts. 

1802. Albert Gallatin Pennsylvania. 

1814. G. W. Campbell Tennessee. 

1814. A. J. Dallas , , . , , Pennsylvania. 

1817. W. H. Crawford Georgia. 

1825. Richard Rush Pennsylvania. 

1829. Samuel D. Ingham Pennsylvania. 

1831. Louis McLane , , . ,, Delaware. 

1833. W. J. Duane , . .Pennsylvania. 

1833. Roger B. Taney Maryland. 

1834. Levi "Woodbury New Hampshire. 

1841. Thomas Ewi.ig ^ , Ohio. 

1841. Walter Forward Pennsylvania. 

1843. John C. Spencer New York. 

1844. GeorgeM.Bibb Kentucky. 

1845. R. J. Walker , Mississippi. 

1849. W. M. Meredith . . , Pennsylvania. 

1850. Thomas Corwin , Ohio. 

1853. James Guthrie , Kentucky. 

1857. Howell Cobb Georgia. 

i860. Philip F. Thomas Maryland. 

1861. John A. Dix New York. 

1861. Salmon P. Chase , Ohio. 

1864. W. P. Fessenden Maine. 

1865. Hugh McCulloch Indiana. 

1869. George S. Boutwell Massachusetts. 



2i8 Appendix, 



POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Census, 1870. 



States. Population. 

Alabama 996,988 

Arkansas 483,179 

California 560,285 



States. Popidation. 

Nebraska 123,000 

Nevada 42,491 

New Hampshire 318,300 



Connecticut 537.418 New Jersey 905,794 

Delaware 125,015 ;New York 4,3fi2,834 

Florida 187,751 iNorth Carolina 1,069,401 

Georgia 1,195,077 Ohio 2,662,333 

Illinois 2,539,638 Oregon 90,922 

Indiana 1 ,673,941 Pennsylvania 3,519.601 

Iowa 1,191,720 illuode Island 217,356 

Kansas 362,872 South Carolina 728.000 

Kentucky 1,321,001 Tennessee 1,258,288 

Louisiana 727,050 JTexas 797,500 

Maine 626,463 Vermont 330,552 

Maryland 780,894, Virginia 1,224,947 

Massachusetts 1,457,351 West Virginia 442,032 



Michigan 1.184,296 

Minnesota 435,511 

Mississippi 834,170 

Missouri 1,717,258 



Wisconsin 1,055,167 



Total of States 38,086,396 



Districts and Territories. Population. 

District of Columbia 131,706 

Arizona 9,658 

Colorado 39,706 

Dakotah 14,181 

Idaho 14,998 

Montana 20,594 

New Mexico , . .". 91,852 

Utah 86,786 

Washington 23,901 

Wyoming 9,118 

Total 442,500 

Total States 38,086,396 

Total United States 38,528,896 



Appendix, 



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220 Appendix. 



THE TWEN^TY MOST POPULOUS CITIES IN THE UNITED 

STATES. 

No. Cities. 1870, _ 18C0. Per Cent. 

1. New York.. 922,531 ' . 805,658 14.6 

2. Philadelphia 674,022 565,529 19.2 

3. Brooklyn 306,300 206,601 48.7 

4. St. Louis 310,864 160,773 93.4 

5. Chicago , 298,983 109,260 173.7 

6. Baltimore 267,354 212,411 25.9 

7. Boston 250,523 177,840 40.9 

. 8. Cincinnati 216,239 161,044 34.3 

9. New Orleans 191,322 168,675 13.5 

10. San Francisco 149,482 56,802 163.2 

11. Buffalo 117,715 81,129 45.1 

12. Washington , 109,204 61,122 78.8 

13. Newark 105,078 71,941 46.1 

14. Louisville 100,753 68,033 48.1 

15. Cleveland 92,846 43,417 113.9 

16. Pittsburg 86,235 49,217 75.3 

17. JerseyCity 81,744 29,226 179.7 

18. Detroit... 79,580 45,619 74.5 

19. IVfiiwaukie 71,499 45,246 58.1 

20. Albany , 69,4^2 62,367 11.4 



JMMiaRATION. 



From Ireland to America 


from May, 1847, to January, 1839 


1,597,805 


" Q-erraany " 


U t( (( 


1,536,649 


'* England " 


" " " 


498,578 


<' Scotland ^* 


a (f (( 


100,595 


" France f' 


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74,405 


" Switzerland " 


<{ l( t( 


62,608 


All other countries " 


Total, 


168,351 




4,038,991 



Appendix. 221 



THIRTEENTn, FOURTEENTH, AKD FIFTEENTH AMEND- 

MENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE 

UNITED STATES. 

1865. — AUTICLE XIII., Section 1. — Neither slavery nor invol- 
untary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the 
party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United 
States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. 

Sect. 2. — Congress shall have power to enforce this article by 
appropriate legislation. 

1868 — Akitcle XIV., Section 1. — All persons bom or natu- 
ralized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, 
are citizens of the United States, and of the State wherein they 
reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge 
the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor 
shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, with- 
out due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdic- 
tion the equal protection of the laws. ' ' 

Sect. 2. — Representatives shall be apportioned among the sev- 
eral States according to their respective numbers, counting the 
whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. 
But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors 
for President and Vice-President of the United States, representa- 
tives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a State, or 
the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male 
inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citi- 
zens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for parti- 
cipation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation 
therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of 
such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens 
twenty-one years of age in such Slate. 



222 Appendix. . 

Sect. 3. — No person shall be a senator or representative in 
Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any 
office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, 
who, having previously taken an oath as a member of Congress, or 
as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legis- 
lature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support 
the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insur- 
rection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the 
enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each 
House, remove such disability. 

Sect. 4 — The validity of the public debt of the United States, 
authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pen- 
sions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebel- 
lion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States, nor 
any State, shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in 
aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any 
claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, 
obligations, and claims, shall be he'd illegal and void. 

Sect. 5. — That Congress shall' have power to enforce by ap- 
propriate legislation the provisions of this article. 

ISTO. — ARTiciiE XV., Section 1. — The right of citizens of the 
United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United 
States, or by any State, on account of race, color, or previous con- 
dition of servitude. 

, Sect. 2. — Congress shall have power to enforce this article by 
appropriate legislation. 



RD- ^ 



